GAME 11 | DUQUESNE (4-6) vs. SAINT FRANCIS (0-8)
Sat. Dec. 11, 2021 • 5:00 p.m.
UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse (3,500), Pittsburgh, Pa.
TV: ESPN+

The Dukes will look to snap their two-game skid on Saturday, Dec. 11 at 5 p.m. when they take on Saint Francis (Pa.) in a non-conference tilt.

The contest will be preceded by the Duquesne men's team's 1 p.m. game versus New Hampshire.

HOW TO FOLLOW
The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.
Live stats are available here.
Follow @DuqWBB on Twitter and Instagram for in-game updates. 

THE SERIES - vs. SAINT FRANCIS U

• The Dukes and Red Flash are meeting for the fifth-straight season and the 36th time overall.
• Duquesne leads the series with 29 wins, including a current 11-game winning-streak against Saint Francis that dates back to 2008.
• Each of the last two games have been decided by less than three points.
• Duquesne pulled out a 72-69 victory in overtime on Dec. 15, 2019 at La Roche.
• Last season, a buzzer-beater by Amanda Kalin helped the Dukes pull out a 69-67 win at DeGol Arena on Dec. 2, 2020.
• The Dukes 29 wins against the Red Flash is the fourth-most against a single opponent. Duquesne has only defeated St. Bonaventure (42), Rhode Island (37) and Robert Morris (32) more times than Saint Francis.
• The last time the Dukes lost to Saint Francis at home was a 71-59 setback at the Palumbo Center in 1999.

LAST MEETING - Dec. 2, 2020

• Amanda Kalin put-back her own miss as time expired to propel the Dukes to a 69-67 win at Saint Francis.
• Kalin dropped a then-career-high 25 points in the win.
• The Dukes led by 13 in the early stages of the fourth quarter, before a 15-3 run by Saint Francis tied the game at 65-65.
• With the score tied at 67, Kalin helped Duquesne escape DeGol Arena with the win at the buzzer.
• The shot was the No. 3 play on ESPN Sportscenter's Top 10 that night.

SCOUTING SAINT FRANCIS

• The Red Flash are searching for their first win of the season and coming off of an 86-33 loss at Toledo Wednesday night.
• Saint Francis shot 27 percent (14 of 52) from the field in the loss, while the Rockets converted 57 percent (36 of 63) of their attempts.
• Kaitlyn Maxwell was the lone player in double figures with 15 points in the loss.
• She leads the team with 8.4 ppg. and scored a season-high 21 points in the season-opening loss at Temple.
• Jada Dapaa leads the Northeast Conference and ranks 86th in Division I with 8.8 rpg.
• The Red Flash currently rank last in Division I with both points per game (43.2) and turnover margin (-13.38).
• After going 14-9 overall and posting a 12-4 mark in the NEC last season, Saint Francis was picked to finish third in the NEC Preseason Poll revealed in October.

DUQUESNE vs. NORTHEAST CONFERENCE

• The Dukes are 41-14 all time against teams from the NEC - including wins in each of the last 19 contests against NEC schools.
• The last time a team from the NEC defeated Duquesne was a 69-61 loss to Robert Morris in 2009.
• The Dukes have defeated six different NEC schools during the current 19-game winning streak.

LAST TIME OUT

• Despite a career-high 31 points from Fatou Pouye, the Dukes were defeated 71-66 at Kent State Wednesday evening.
• The Golden Flashes led by as many as 13 points in the third quarter, before the Dukes brought the score back to a one-point deficit with five minutes to play in the game.
• The Dukes had a chance to tie the game in the final 30 seconds, but a three-point attempt rimmed out and allowed Kent State to put the game away at the free-throw line.
• Duquesne turned the ball over 13 times, compared to nine by Kent State, and was out-scored 14-3 in points from turnovers.

COMMON OPPONENTS

• The Dukes and Red Flash have three common opponents this season - Longwood, Temple and Kent State.
• All three teams defeated both Duquesne and Saint Francis.
• Duquesne lost by an average of 6.0 points, while the Red Flash was defeated by an average margin of 18.3 points.

TAKING AWAY THE TOP OPTION

• Duquesne held the leading scorers for Akron, Siena and Canisius below their season-average during a three-game winning-streak that was snapped by Temple.
• Akron leading scorer Jordyn Dawson (24.0 ppg.) was limited to just four points on 1-of-11 shooting against the Dukes.
• Siena leading scorer Rayshel Brown (13.5 ppg.) was held to 11 points on a 5-of-14 performance from the field.
• Canisius leading scorer Dani Haskell (16.2 ppg.) finished with 12 points on 5-of-16 shooting, including zero made three-point field goals on seven attempts.
• Consequently, the leading scorers for both Temple and Kent State went over their season averages.
• Temple leading scorer Mia Davis (15.4 ppg.) led all players with 22 points to help the Owls defeat the Dukes.
• Kent State leading scorer Lindsey Thall (14.4 ppg.) finished with 16 points and shot 50 percent from the field in the Golden Flashes win.

CAREER NIGHT

• Fatou Pouye scored a career-high 31 points in the loss to Kent State Wednesday night.
• It was her fourth career game with 20 or more points and first-ever 30-point game.
• After averaging just 5.0 points as a starter in the first two games of the season at UCF and Tulsa, Pouye has come off of the bench and averaged 16.6 points in the past eight games.
• The Western Kentucky graduate transfer currently leads the team and ranks 12th in the A-10 with 14.3 ppg. and is shooting 51 percent from the field (54 of 106) and a team-best 41 percent from long range (11-of-27) this season.

GUARDS ON THE GLASS

• Guards Libby Bazelak and Megan McConnell lead the team in rebounding with 5.8 and 5.6 rpg., respectively.
• Bazelak posted a season-high 10 rebounds in the team's win over Siena. It was the seventh game of Bazelak's career with 10 rebounds or more and just the first in which she did not record a double-double.
• McConnell has hauled in at least three rebounds in all nine games this season, including a career-high 13 in the win over Lafayette.
• She led the Dukes with 10 rebounds in their home game versus Temple.

DO IT ALL MCCONNELL

• In addition to rebounds, Megan McConnell leads the team in both assists and steals per game and ranks third in scoring.
• She slots third in the A-10 and 55th in Division I with 4.9 assists per game.
• McConnell ranks fifth in the league and 82nd in the nation with 2.4 steals per game.
• The Chartiers Valley product also ranks third on the team with 9.4 ppg.

TRENDING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

• The Dukes have lost consecutive games three times this season, but never three in-a-row.
• Duquesne cruised to double-digit wins over Lafayette and Akron when it previously entered on a two-game skid.

DAILY DOUBLE

• A Dukes player has notched a double-double three times this season, including two already by guard Megan McConnell.
• McConnell posted 13 points and 10 rebounds this past Sunday versus Temple. She also dished out six assists.
• McConnell registered her first-career double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds on Nov. 14 versus Lafayette.
• She was just one-point shy of a third double-double when she finished with nine points and a season-high 10 assists versus Canisius.
• Fatou Pouye notched her first double-double with the Dukes and fourth overall when she established a career-high with 25 points to go with 10 rebounds at Longwood on Nov. 17.
• Duquesne players only had two double doubles during the entire 2020-21 season.

NEW LOOK STARTING LINEUP

• The Dukes debuted a new starting lineup against Kent State.
• Duquesne started the combination of Libby Bazelak, Tess Myers, Halle Bovell, Laia Sole and Megan McConnell in the game.It was the first lineup change in eight games for the Dukes.

SOLE 1K

• Laia Sole scored six points in the loss at Kent State and in the process reached 1,000 points for her career.
• Sole has scored 684 points as a member of the Dukes. Before transferring to Duquesne, she was the 2016-17 America East Sixth Man of the Year as a freshman at Maine.
• She scored 318 points during her lone season with the Bears.

WELCOME BACK HALLE

• After missing each of the past two seasons, Halle Bovell made her season-debut for the Dukes vs. Pitt on Nov. 20.
• Prior to the game against Pitt, Bovell's last time on the floor in an actual game was on March 9, 2019 in an A-10 Championship Semifina loss to Fordham at the A.J. Palumbo Center.
• She appeared in 32 games with nine starts for the Dukes in the 2018-19 season.
• Bovell went 987 days between appearances on the floor for the Dukes.

ONE MILESTONE DOWN

• Libby Bazelak became the first player since Paige Cannon in 2019 to reach 500 career rebounds when she pulled in the milestone board in the team's game versus Pitt in November.
• Bazelak, who currently ranks third all-time in school history with a .377 three-point field goal percentage, is only 85 points away from 1,000 career points.

LOCK DOWN D

• In three of their four wins, the Dukes have held opponents to under 50 points and won by double digits.
• Duquesne held an opponent to under 50 points just once during the 2020-21 season (George Mason) and did not win any games last season by double digits.

DUQUESNE FAMILY CONNECTION

• Tess Myers ranks second on the Dukes in scoring with 10.5 ppg. and has nearly knocked down more three-point shots through 10 games this season (27) as she did during the entire 16-game 2020-21 season (25).
• She currently leads the A-10 and ranks 41st in Division I with 2.7 three-point field goals made per game.
• Tess's father, Joey starred at Duquesne from 1980-83 playing for two NIT teams. He scored 831 points as a career .455 shooter. The 6-8 forward was one of the top shooting big men in the Atlantic 10 and had the nickname "Sonar Joey Myers" for his range.
• He played in the pre-3-point era until his senior season, where he moved inside as one of the big men Duquesne had (5-13 3PT). He was drafted by the New Jersey Nets in the eighth round (179th overall).