PITTSBURGH – The Duquesne women's basketball team advanced to the Atlantic 10 Championship Semifinals for the third time in the last four seasons with a dominant 72-51 victory over Saint Louis in the Quarterfinal Round of the A-10 Championship on Friday night at the A.J. Palumbo Center.

The Dukes (19-12) snapped a two-game skid to the Billikens (15-16), including a 71-65 defeat in last season's A-10 Quarterfinals.

Duquesne takes a seven-game winning streak into tomorrow's contest, facing off with No. 2 seed Fordham at 1:30 p.m. ET on Saturday afternoon at the Palumbo Center (CBS Sports Network).

Chassidy Omogrosso tallied a game-high 20 points (5-9 FG, 8-10 FT) and six rebounds on Friday while Paige Cannon and Conor Richardson chipped in 12 points apiece off the bench for Duquesne.

Holding a 29-27 lead early in the second half, the red-hot Dukes scored 15 straight points, including the last 10 from Omogrosso to gain a 44-27 advantage with 4:41 remaining in the quarter. A Julijana Vojinovic 3-pointer and a pair of baskets by Richardson extended the Duquesne surge to 22-4, giving the Dukes a 51-31 edge with just over two minutes to play in the period.

Duquesne closed the third quarter connecting on 10 of its final 11 field goal attempts, outscoring the Billikens 27-11 in the stanza to take a 56-34 lead after three.  

The Dukes would build their advantage to as many as 24 in the fourth quarter with a Richardson jumper to open the frame and later by a pair of free throws from Vojinovic.

The Dukes shot 44.4 pct (24-54) from the floor and behind the arc (8-18) while hitting at 80.0 pct (16-20) from the charity stripe. The Billikens' 51 points represented a season-low for a Duquesne opponent this year.

The Dukes closed the opening quarter with six consecutive points to take a 13-5 lead in a quarter which Saint Louis made just 1-of-17 field goal attempts. The Billikens finished the game shooting 29.9 pct (29.9 pct).

Cannon dropped in nine of her 12 points in the first half to held Duquesne gain a 29-23 halftime advantage.

Libby Bazelak matched a team high with six rebounds, Vojinovic dished out a game-high five assists while Kadri-Ann Lass tallied four blocked shots for Duquesne.  

The Dukes, who led for 38:34 of Friday's game, outscored Saint Louis 15-2 on fast break points while Duquesne bench recorded 34 points compared to 15 by the Billiken reserves.

Saturday's matchup with Fordham features the two hottest teams in the A-10 as the Dukes have won seven in a row and the Rams own a 10-game winning streak. Fordham earned a 73-62 win over No. 10 UMass on Friday night.

The Rams won the teams' only meeting this season by a score of 57-46 in the Bronx.
 
GAME NOTES

• This is Duquesne's sixth appearance in the A-10 Championship Semifinals. The Dukes have advanced to the semifinals in three of the last four seasons. Duquesne won both of those contests. (78-63 win over Saint Joseph's in 2017, 56-52 win over Saint Louis in 2016)
• Chassidy Omogrosso has eclipsed 20 points in four of the last five games. She now has 1,700 career points for the Dukes, good for third all-time in program history.
• Top-seeded VCU will take on No. 4 Dayton in the other A-10 Championship Semifinal at 11 a.m. ET.