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BRONX, N.Y. - The Duquesne women's basketball team defeated defending Atlantic 10 Conference champion Fordham 56-46 on Saturday afternoon at Rose Hill Gym. The Dukes (14-8, 6-3 A-10) have won five of their last six games. The Rams (15-7, 7-2 A-10) have dropped two-of-three after starting out the season 6-0 in A-10 play.

April Robinson led all scorers with 18 points and was 4-for-8 from 3-point range. Amadea Szamosi added 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Belma Nurkic grabbed a career-high nine rebounds.

Hannah Missry and Emily Tapio scored 12 and 11 points respectively for Fordham.

With the game tied early at 4-4, Duquesne went on a 9-3 run to take a six point lead at 13-7 with 12:44 remaining in the 1st half. The Dukes would hold onto the lead until a 3-pointer by Fordham's Danielle Padovano put the Rams up 17-15 at 6:02. Back-to-back baskets from April Robinson and Szamosi put the Dukes ahead going into the under-4 media timeout at 19-17. This was the start of a 9-2 run that closed out the half with the Dukes leading 24-19.

Duquesne started the 2nd half with a jumper by Jose-Ann Johnson and a 3-pointer by Nurkic to take a 10-point lead at 29-19. Robinson extended the lead to 13 points after burying her second 3-pointer of the game at 32-19 with the next possession. The Rams would make it a single-digit game after a 3-pointer by Hannah Missry and a layup by Tiffany Ruffin made the score 32-24 at 16:31. After the under 16 media timeout, the Dukes scored two 3-pointers, an and-1 by Olivia Bresnahan and another by Robinson which gave the Dukes a 14-point lead at 38-24 with 15:57 left. Robinson's fourth 3-pointer of the game gave Duquesne its first 15-point lead of the game at 43-28 at the midway point of the half. A Deva'Nyar Workman 3-pointer at 6:12 gave Duquesne its largest lead of the game - 17 points at 50-33. The closest Fordham would come was 10 points - three times, the last with 18 seconds left in the game.

"This was a very good team performance today against a quality opponent," said head coach Dan Burt. "We didn't shoot well, but we defended well as a team. Most importantly, we rebounded the ball very well."

The Dukes' 46 points was a season-low and for the game shot 35 percent (21-of-60), but held the Rams to 30.6 percent (19-of-62) shooting. Duquesne outrebounded Fordham 56 to 46.

"Fordham was focused on trying to box out Jose-Ann, but she found a way to get eight rebounds - five on the offensive. Amadea continued to score efficiently. And as I have said before, April is our catalyst. Another outstanding effort by a great group of young women."

Szamosi improved her shooting percentage to .540 for the season which moved her into first place in the A-10 past UMass' Kim Pierre-Louis (.534).

"I'm proud of the prep work and bench work by Eddie Benton, Matt Schmidt and Rachel Wojdowski did for this game. Everybody, from coaches to players displayed a championship mentality."

Duquesne has a week off before returning to the Palumbo Center to host VCU (14-8, 5-4 A-10). The Dukes and Rams, who split a pair of meetings last season, tipoff at 2:00 p.m.

GAME NOTES

• Robinson moved into 5th place on Duquesne's all-time 3-point field goals made list, surpassing Hall of Famer Darcie Vincent - she now has 153

• Nurkic's previous career-rebounding-high was eight versus Saint Francis U earlier this season

• Duquesne committed a season-low eight fouls

• Fordham only got to the foul line twice

• The Duquesne defense has allowed 45 and 46 points respectively in the last two games against Fordham