Box Score

ALBUQUERQUE - April Robinson recorded career-highs 34 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Duquesne women's basketball team to a 78-69 victory over New Mexico in the championship game of the UNM Thanksgiving Tournament on Saturday evening. Robinson was named tournament Most Valuable Player.

With the win, the Dukes improve to 5-1 on the season and halted New Mexico's home winning streak at the legendary The Pit at 16 games.

Both Amadea Szamosi (12 points) and Emilie Gronas (11 points) were named to the All-Tournament Team.

Khadijah Shumpert led New Mexico (4-2) with 23 points.

Both teams started out struggling from the field, making only two of their first 12 attempts combined. The Dukes went up 7-2 midway through the 1st quarter on a Robinson 3-pointer. The Lobos would go on a 10-3 run to take a 12-10 lead with 1:23 remaining. With UNM up one point and Duquesne with the ball, Robinson was fouled one step inside half court with 0.3 seconds remaining while shooting. She made 2-of-3 to give the Dukes a 16-15 lead at the end of the quarter.

Robinson opened the 2nd quarter with a 3-pointer as the Dukes would begin to build their lead. A Kadri-Ann Lass layup at 5:26 gave the Dukes its first 10-point lead of the contest at 32-22. The lead would get as high as 11 points after a Robinson layup at 1:50 made the score 37-26. However, the Lobos would close out the half on a 7-0 run, cutting the deficit to four points at 37-33.

The Lobos came out in the 3rd quarter with back-to-back layups from Whitney Johnson to tie the score 37-37 early on. There would be five more ties in the quarter until a fade away shot by Laneah Bryan as time expired gave New Mexico a 51-49 lead.

After two more ties, back-to-back layups by Deva'Nyar Workman and Szamosi gave the Dukes a 59-55 lead, forcing a New Mexico timeout at the 7:30 mark. With 6:01 remaining and Duquesne leading 61-59, New Mexico head coach Yvonne Sanchez was assessed a technical foul. However, Gronas missed both shots and Jaisa Nunn made both free throws on the after being fouled to tie the game at 61-61.

Leading 63-62, Chassidy Omogrosso hit a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to put the Dukes ahead 66-62 with 3:03 left to play. Robinson followed with back-to-back 3-pointers to make it a 10-point game at 72-62 with 2:02 remaining to seal the victory.

"April Robinson was heads and shoulders above all the players on the court," said head coach Dan Burt. "Clearly, she is out of her shooting slump after tonight."

Robinson finished the game 10-of-21 from the field and 7-of-14 from 3-point range.

"The Pit is such an incredible place to play. 5-6,000 people yelling, it's hard to hear in there. The New Mexico fans are so well-educated on women's basketball as well. We stopped their 16-game home winning streak tonight. It's an honor for our program to play in this event. Hopefully, they will have us back in the future."

The 16-game UNM winning streak dates back to Nov. 29, 2014. In the history of the venue, the Lobos have won close to 80 percent of their games.

"Dev Workman on the glass was huge for us tonight. She is really getting back to her best form and we are excited about her future."

Workman finished with nine rebounds, second only to Robinson.

The Dukes will return home to Pittsburgh Sunday afternoon and will hit the road again for a two-game MAC swing beginning with Central Michigan on Thursday and ending at Buffalo on next Sunday.