PITTSBURGH – For the first time since 2013 there is a new city champion. With the game tied at the end of three quarters, Pitt outscored Duquesne 18-10 in the 4
th quarter to take home a 66-58 victory.
Chassidy Omogrosso scored a team-high 17 points and
Julijana Vojinovic added 15 for the Dukes (5-7) who have dropped three straight and four out of five.
Kadri-Ann Lass grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds and added six blocks.
Jasmine Whitney scored a game-high 23 for the Panthers (9-5).
Duquesne spotted Pitt the first nine points of the game before Lass' jumper put the Dukes on the scoreboard at 6:25. Vojinovic's old-fashion 3-point play and a jumper by
Amanda Kalin followed to make the score 9-7. The Panthers responded by scoring eight of the next 10 points to take a 17-9 lead. But Duquesne held Pitt scoreless for the final 2:45 of the quarter, as an Omogrosso buzzer beating layup capped a 9-0 run and put the Dukes up 18-17.
The second quarter saw three ties and three lead changes. Pitt took the lead at the 7:33 mark and led for the next 6:20 until back-to-back layups by Kalin and Omogrosso and a free throw by
Libby Bazelak put the Dukes up 26-25 at 2:17. The Panthers scored the final three points of the quarter and took a 28-26 lead into halftime.
Down by a field goal at 8:42 of the 3
rd quarter, the Dukes got a fast break jumper from Vojinovic sandwiched between a pair of Omogrosso 3-pointers. After Cassidy Walsh followed with a 3-pointer, Vojinovic,
Paige Cannon and Omogrosso each had layups to give Duquesne its largest lead of the game – nine points at 43-34 with 3:22 remaining. However, Pitt ended the quarter on a 14-5 run to tie the score at 48-48 at the end of the quarter.
The teams exchanged baskets to start the 4
th quarter before Walsh got back-to-back 3-pointers and Whitney hitting a pair of free throws making the score 60-52. Duquesne would miss 12 of their next 13 field goal attempts in the final 4:23.
GAME NOTES
- The Dukes shot under 38 percent for the fourth time in the last five games
- Duquesne made only 5-of-27 3-pointers, sending their season percentage down to 25.6
- Pitt held a slight 42-41 rebound edge
- Each team had 12 points off turnovers
- There were six ties and six lead changes
- Today's win marked the first for Pitt since Dec. 29, 2013
- This was the Panthers' first win on the Palumbo floor since Dec. 3, 2008
