LOUNDONVILLE, N.Y. – The Duquesne women's basketball team pulled away late for a 59-49 win at Siena Saturday afternoon.
 
The Dukes (3-4), who led by two heading into the fourth quarter, out-scored the Saints (0-5) 17-9 in the final period to earn the victory.
 
Megan McConnell (Pittsburgh, Pa./Chartiers Valley) led the team with 17 points, four assists, four steals and three rebounds, while playing all 40 minutes. Libby Bazelak (Kettering, Ohio/Bishop Alter) was one point shy of a double-double with nine points, 10 rebounds and four assists. Fatou Pouye (Kaolack, Senegal/Glasgow Christian) also chipped in nine points, while both Tess Myers (Lower Burrell, Pa./North Catholic) and Precious Johnson (Helsinborg, Sweden/Marks Gymnasieskola) finished with eight.
 
The Dukes opened the game with nine-straight points and eventually led 13-4 with 4:04 to play in the first quarter. The Saints held Duquesne off the board for the remainder of the period and cut the lead down to 13-12 entering the second quarter.
 
Siena took a 14-13 lead in the opening minute of the second quarter and stretched the Duquesne deficit to 24-20 on a Rayshel Brown trey with 5:13 to play in the first half. The Dukes rallied back with a 9-2 run to close out the half ahead 29-26.
 
The Dukes gave up the lead at 36-35 with 5:33 to play in the third quarter. McConnell knocked down a jumper near the four-minute mark of the period to reclaim the lead and the team never looked back. Duquesne led 44-42 in the fourth quarter, before out-scoring the Saints 15-7 over the final eight minutes to notch its second win in five days.
 
Both teams shot around 40 percent from the field, however the difference came at the free-throw line. The Dukes were an efficient 11 of 12 at the line, while the Saints did not attempt any free throws. It was the first-time in the Dan Burt era that an opponent did not go to the charity stripe and the lowest foul total for the Dukes during that time. The previous-low foul total for a Burt-coached team was seven against Fordham (01/10/16).
 
Both Duquesne and Siena committed 26 turnovers, apiece, in the contest. The 26 turnovers for the Dukes matches a single-game high for the Dukes since 2013, while the 26 takeaways also equal a single-game high for Duquesne under Burt.
 
The Dukes return home to UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse for each of their next two games, starting on Wednesday, Dec. 1 at 4 p.m. against Canisius. The game will be followed by the Duquesne men's basketball team's game against Bowling Green. Both games will broadcast on ESPN+.