5PITTSBURGH – For the second consecutive season, the Duquesne women's basketball team will host Rhode Island in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Championships. The Dukes (19-10, 9-7) will battle the Rams (13-15, 6-10) on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. at La Roche University's Kerr Fitness Center with a trip to UD Arena for the quarterfinals on the line. 

HOW TO FOLLOW

• Admission is free of charge.
• The first round matchup between the Dukes and Rams will be broadcasted on ESPN+.
• Live Stats are available on goduquesne.com.
• Follow @DuqWBB on Twitter and Instagram for in-game updates. Tweet #GoDukes

THE SERIES

• Overall, the Dukes lead the series 34-21 and 17-8 in Pittsburgh, and 6-3 in the Atlantic 10 Championships.
• Duquesne has dominated the series in recently memory, winning four consecutive and 15 of the past 17 contests since 2008.
• Duquesne and Rhode Island will meet for the second time in under two weeks, as the Dukes overcame an 11-point second half deficit to down the Rams, 72-62 on Feb. 19 at PPG Paints Arena. The win marked Duquesne head coach Dan Burt's 150th win in his career and the program's first at PPG Paints Arena. 
• Last season in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Championships, the Duquesne offense exploded in an 106-69 victory at the Palumbo Center. The 106 points marked the second most points in a single game in program history.

LAST TIME OUT

• Led by a balanced offense, the Duquesne women's basketball team dominated St. Bonaventure in an 80-57 victory in the regular season finale at the Reilly Center on Saturday afternoon. Six players scored between 13 and 9 points in the winning effort, led by Libby Bazelak's baker's dozen 13 points. Nina Aho posted 12 points, while Laia Solé posted her second career double-double with 11-points and 10 rebounds. Paige Cannon, Precious Johnson and Amanda Kalin all registered nine points in the outing. Bazelak grabbed five rebounds and dished five assists to stuff the stat sheet. Solé distributed four dimes in the contest.
• Duquesne's had just six turnovers, its lowest output of the season and the fewest since totaling five turnovers against Youngstown State on March 19, 2015 in the first round of the WNIT.

STAT CHECK

• Libby Bazelak continues to shoot at an efficient rate from long distance, posting a 46.3 3-point field goal percentage. The mark is the best in the conference and ranks fifth nationally.
• The Dukes offense continues to be the best in the Atlantic 10 in scoring, averaging 69.8 points per game. Duquesne's 42.5 percent field goal percentage, 35.9 percent clip from 3-point land and 15.7 assists per game leads the conference, as well.
• Since falling to George Washington on Feb. 22, the Duquesne offense has fired on all cylinders, defeating Fordham and St. Bonaventure by an average of 17 points, while scoring 77 points per game. Duquesne's offense has combined to shoot 48.7 percent from the field and 45.9 percent from 3-point land, while holding the opposition to shoot just 34 percent and 23.1 percent from long range.
• Despite not having an on-campus arena this season, the Dukes are now 10-3 at 'home' sites which include La Roche University (7-2), PPG Paints Arena (1-1), Oakland Catholic High School (1-0) and Robert Morris University (1-0). The Dukes have outscored its opponents by an average margin of 10.4 points per game at home. The Dukes are shooting at a .458 clip at home, and have limited the opposition to shoot just .380 from the field and .282 from long range. Solé leads the team in scoring (15.2 ppg), field goal percentage (.544) at home, While Bazelak has averaged 14.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.9 assists while shooting at a 53.3 percent clip and a 51.9 percent mark from 3-point land. The Dukes have now recorded 10-plus home wins over its past six seasons, and have reached the 10-win mark at home in nine of the past 10 seasons.
• In nine games at La Roche, three different Dukes have shot above 50 percent from the field, including Precious Johnson (60 percent), Amanda Kalin (55.4 percent) Libby Bazelak (52.9 percent, 53.7 percent 3PT) and Laia Sole (50.5 percent). Overall the Dukes have made 46.4 percent of its field goal attempts at La Roche, including over 40 percent from 3-point land (40.5 percent). The Dukes have outscored the opposition by an average of 10.5 points.         
• Among all home tenants at La Roche's Kerr Fitness Center this season, Duquesne women's basketball (7-2), Duquesne men's basketball (3-0), La Roche women's basketball (12-1) and La Roche men's basketball (12-0) have combined for a 34-4 record at home. Only UMass women's basketball, George Washington women's basketball and Carnegie Mellon women's basketball (vs. La Roche) have escaped the Kerr Fitness Center with wins. The La Roche men and La Roche women's teams secured Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Championships at the Kerr Fitness Center against Penn St. Behrend (62-61) and Hilbert (88-69), respectively.

SCOUTING RHODE ISLAND

• Since falling to Duquesne on Feb. 19, the Rams have dropped three consecutive against La Salle, George Washington and UMass.
• The Dukes will look to limit Davida Dale, who scored a game-high 27 points against the Dukes in the matchup at PPG Paints Arena.
• Nicole Jorgenson, who ranks seventh in the A-10 in scoring and second in rebounding (8.3 rpg), was held to just one point in 12 minutes due to foul trouble.

• The winner between the Dukes and Rams will meet the winner of #3 Fordham and #14 Saint Joseph's in the quarterfinal round on Friday, March 6 at 7:00 p.m. at UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio on ESPN+.
• The winner of the quarterfinal matchup will advance to the semifinals, facing off against either #2 VCU, #7 Davidson or #10 La Salle with an Atlantic 10 Championship berth on the line on Saturday, March 7 at 1:30 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.
• Duquesne is 6-1 against the six foes on its half of the bracket, with a 3-point loss against Davidson representing the only blemish combined against the Wildcats (0-1), VCU (1-0), Fordham (1-0), La Salle (1-0) Saint Joseph's (2-0) and Rhode Island (1-0). 
• The Atlantic 10 Championship Game will take place on Sunday, March 8 at noon on ESPNU. Potential teams on the other side of the bracket that could reach the championship game include #1 Dayton, #4 Saint Louis, #5 UMass, #8 George Washington, #9 Richmond, #12 St. Bonaventure and #13 George Mason.