Box Score Nov. 24, 2015 Box Score | Photo Gallery
PITTSBURGH - Reigning Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week Kadri-Ann Lass scored 25 points and grabbed eight rebounds as the Duquesne women's basketball team improved to 3-1 on the season after their 86-62 victory over Howard on Tuesday night. The game was the home opener for the Dukes.
April Robinson recorded her third career double-double with 13 points and 10 assists. She was two rebounds shy of a triple-double and had six steals. Chassidy Omogrosso added 18 points and Amadea Szamosi 10 for the Dukes.
Howard, who was playing without leading scorer Victoria Gonzalez, was led by Syndi Johnson with 23 point and 10 rebounds. Kiana Thomas also had a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds. Shaylon Tarver scored 15 off the bench for the Bison (0-5).
Duquesne started the 1st quarter by scoring the game's first 10 points and forcing five Howard turnovers. The Bison did not get their first field goal until the 5:38 mark of the quarter. The Dukes would score nine points off of Bison turnovers to take a 21-9 lead at the end of the quarter.
The Duquesne lead would get as high as 17 points early in the 2nd quarter when a layup by Szamosi made the score 26-9. The Dukes would hold a double-figure lead until there was 20 seconds left in the quarter when a steal by Howard's Tarver led to a Hannah Timmons layup that closed out the quarter scoring and cut the deficit to nine points at 40-31.
Lass opened up the 3rd quarter with a 3-pointer which started a 20-9 run, giving the Dukes a 20-point lead at 60-40 with 3:55 remaining. An Emilie Gronas 3-pointer gave the Dukes a 25-point lead at the 2:41 mark of the quarter. Duquesne would lead 67-48 heading into the final quarter.
The Dukes would keep a 20-plus lead the entire 4th quarter. Omogrosso 3-pointer with 27 seconds remaining in the game gave Duquesne its largest lead of the game -- 27 points at 86-59.
"I'm very happy we came away with a win," said head coach Dan Burt. "I tried a bunch of different combinations and trying to give freshman and Brianna Thomas some minutes tonight."
All six of the active freshman played, averaging 19 minutes and Thomas played 13 minutes.
"The freshman cannot be freshman if they want to be on the floor in January and February."
"Kadri played very well tonight -- on her birthday. This is one of the best freshman performances that I know of in Duquesne women's basketball history. We'd probably have to go back to Korie Hlede to find anything like that."
Lass made 11-of-16 shots from the field, including 2-of-3 3-pointers in 31 minutes.
The Dukes will hit the road for a pair of games this weekend as part of the New Mexico Thanksgiving Tournament. The first will be on Friday against North Carolina A&T. On Saturday, Duquesne will play either New Mexico or Southern Utah.
GAME NOTES
- Robinson passed both Orsi Szecsi and Chrissi Stough to move into 17th place on Duquesne's all-time scoring list
- This is Robinson's fourth all-time double-figure assist game
- Duquesne is 28-15 in home openers and 19-9 at the Palumbo Center
