GAME 12 | DUQUESNE (5-6) vs. PENN STATE (6-5)
Sat. Dec. 18, 2021 • 2:00 p.m.
UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse (3,500), Pittsburgh, Pa.
TV: ESPN+

The Dukes will welcome Penn State to campus for the first time since 2005.

Duquesne has earned wins against a Power-5 conference school in five of the past six seasons. Duquesne has defeated Pitt (five times), Penn State, and Virginia during that span.

THE SERIES - vs. PENN STATE

• The Dukes and Lady Lions are meeting for the 18th time overall and for just the fourth time since Penn State left the Atlantic 10 following the 1991 season.
• Penn State has dominated the series, winning each of the first 16 games between the two programs.
• Duquesne earned its first-ever win in the series in the last meeting in 2018 - a 64-58 victory at the Bryce Jordan Center.
• The two teams met annually from 1983-91 as conference opponents in the Atlantic 10, prior to Penn State departing for the Big Ten.
• Penn State won all 14 meetings in Atlantic 10 play.

LAST MEETING - Dec. 5, 2018

• Former Duke Julijana Vojinovic scored 16 points and Amanda Kalin put up a then-career high 15 in Duquesne's 64-58 win at Penn State.
• Former Duke Paige Cannon posted a double-double with 10 point and 12 rebounds.
• Penn State's Kamaria McDaniel finished with a game-high 18 points in defeat.
• Penn State, who led by one point at halftime, shot 48 percent (13-for-27) from the floor in the first half compared to its 31 percent (11-for-35) showing in the second half.
• The Dukes defensively held the Lady Lions to just two made field goals on their final 10 attempts.

SCOUTING PENN STATE

• The Lady Lions enter on a two-game winning-streak with victories over Youngstown State (78-58) and Rutgers (52-48).
• Penn State clamped down defensively in its 20-point win over YSU.
• The Lady Lions did not allow a YSU field goal (0-of-26) from the 6:04-mark in the first quarter to the 6:35-mark in the third quarter, a stretch of nearly 20 minutes.
• Penn State also finished with 10 blocks and nine steals as a team.
• Makenna Marisa ranks third in the Big Ten and 19th in Division I with 20.0 ppg.
• She ranks among the top-10 in the nation in field goal attempts (188), field goals made (85), and total points (220).
• Marisa was named the named the Big Ten Player of the Week on Nov. 22 after she recorded a triple-double with career highs of 30 points, 11 assists and 10 steals in 27 minutes of court time a 120-51 win over Delaware State.
• It was the first triple-double by a Lady Lion since 1988, when former Duquesne Head Coach Suzie McConnell recorded the seventh of her legendary career.

DUQUESNE vs. BIG TEN

• The Dukes are 2-15 all-time versus teams from the Big Ten Conference.
• Duquesne's wins came against Penn State (2018) and Ohio State (2010).
• The last time the Dukes played a school from the Big Ten was the season-opener in 2020 at Ohio State
• The Buckeyes defeated Duquesne 82-47 in that contest.

LAST TIME OUT

• Led by a career-high 23 points by Tess Myers, the Dukes earned a 70-61 win over Saint Francis Saturday afternoon at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.
• Three other Dukes scored in double figures. Libby Bazelak posted 14 points, a team-high seven rebounds and four assists, while both Megan McConnell and Fatou Pouye each finished with 10 apiece.
• McConnell added a career-high five steals to her final line.
• Duquesne held the lead for over 33 minutes of clock time, compared to the one minute, 39 seconds in which the Red Flash possessed the lead.

COMMON OPPONENT

• The Dukes and Lady Lions have one common opponent this season - both teams were defeated by Kent State.
• Penn State was defeated by the Golden Flashes 81-74 on Nov. 28 at a neutral site in the Gulf Coast Showcase in Florida.
• Duquesne nearly erased a 13-point third quarter deficit and had a chance to tie the game late, but were defeated 71-66 on Dec. 8 at Kent State.

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS

• Both Duquesne and Penn State have enjoyed success playing on their home court, but struggled on the road so far this season.
• Duquesne is 4-2 when playing at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, but just 1-4 when playing on the road.
• Penn State has won all five of its home games at Bryce Jordan Center, but is winless in all three of its true-road games.
• The Lady Lions won one out of three during its post-Thanksgiving trip to the Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Florida.

GAME OF FIRSTS

• The Dukes 70-61 win over Saint Francis marked the first time this season that the team won a game in which it allowed more than 60 points.
• It was also the first time this season that Duquesne won a game in which it was out-rebounded (SFU 32-30).

SECOND HALF OUTBURST

• Tess Myers scored all of her career-high 23 points in the second half of the team's win over Saint Francis Sunday.
• After missing two attempts in the first half, she shot 6-of-11, including 4-of-6 from long range in the second half.
• Myers scored 12 of the team's 17 points in the third quarter and half of Duquesne's 22 fourth-quarter points.
• Myers' previous career-high was a 20-point performance versus VCU on Jan. 8, 2021.
• She ranks second on the Dukes in scoring with 11.6 ppg. and has knocked down more three-point shots through 11 games this season (31) as she did during the entire 16-game 2020-21 season (25).
• Myers leads the A-10 and ranks 35th in Division I with 2.8 three-point field goals made per game.
• She also ranks fourth in the A-10 with a 38.3 three-point field goal percentage.

LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGHTER

• 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).

BENCH BOOST

• Fatou Pouye has continued to provide a spark off of the bench for the Dukes.
• Pouye posted her fourth-career 20-point game when she scored a career-high 31 points in a loss at Kent State last week.
• It was her second 20-point game this season and first game with over 30 points.
• 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 15.8 points in the past eight games
• The Western Kentucky graduate transfer currently leads the team and ranks 14th in the A-10 with 13.9 ppg.
• Pouye is shooting team-best marks of 50 percent from the field (58 of 115) and 41 percent from long range (12-of-29) this season.

GUARDS ON THE GLASS

• Guards Libby Bazelak and Megan McConnell lead the team in rebounding with 5.9 and 5.6 rpg., respectively.
• Bazelak posted a season-high 10 rebounds in the team's win over Siena. She has finished with five or more rebounds in each of the team's past five games.
• McConnell has hauled in at least three rebounds in all 11 games this season, including a career-high 13 in the win over Lafayette.

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 fourth in the A-10 with 4.6 assists per game.
• McConnell ranks third in the league and 47th in the nation with 2.6 steals per game.
• The Chartiers Valley product also ranks third on the team with 9.5 ppg.
• McConnell is the niece of legendary Penn State All-American guard Suzie McConnell (1985-88).

BOUNCE BACK PERFORMANCES

• Duquesne snapped its two-game skid with a nine-point win over Saint Francis last Sunday.
• 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.

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 691 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 Semifinal 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 .381 three-point field goal percentage, is only 71 points away from 1,000 career points.

LOCK DOWN D

• In three of their six 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.