PITTSBURGH – The Duquesne women's basketball team came up short in a 68-60 setback to Penn State Saturday afternoon at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse to close out non-conference play.
 
The Dukes (5-7) were led by a 21-point effort from Tess Myers (Lower Burrell, Pa./North Catholic). Myers knocked down 7-of-14 attempts, including 5-of-8 from long range. Fatou Pouye (Kaolack, Senegal/Glasgow Christian Academy) finished with 12 points and seven boards, while Libby Bazelak (Kettering, Ohio/Bishop Alter) added nine points. Megan McConnell (Pittsburgh, Pa./Chartiers Valley) finished with seven points and game highs of 11 rebounds, six assists and three steals.
 
Duquesne trailed Penn State (7-5) 7-6 midway through the first quarter. Bazelak drained a three pointer that kicked off a 10-2 run that made the score 16-9 with 2:28 remaining in the period. The Lady Lions managed to draw back within four, 18-14, on a three from leading-scorer Makenna Marisa just before the buzzer that snapped a string of seven-straight misses from long range for the visitors.
 
After Penn State drew within two on the opening possession of the second quarter, the Dukes managed to rebuild their lead with a 13-7 run, capped off by a Myers trey, that made the score 31-23 with 5:17 to play in the first half. The Lady Lions countered with 11-straight points to put Duquesne in a 34-31 hole. Although the Dukes managed to knot the game back up at 34-34, Marisa got another bucket in the closing seconds to send Duquesne into halftime trailing by two.
 
A Myers three pointer tied the score at 40-40 two minutes into the third quarter, before Penn State went on a 10-2 run to put the Dukes in a 50-42 hole. The Lady Lions led by as many as 11 points and eventually closed out the third quarter with a 59-49 advantage.
 
Duquesne came out in the fourth quarter with 10-straight points, including a game-tying layup by Pouye with 5:47 to play in the game, that knotted the contest up at 59-59. Unfortunately, the Dukes were held without a field goal for the remainder of the afternoon, allowing Penn State to out-score Duquesne 9-1 down the stretch to secure the win.
 
The Dukes shot 21-of-59 (35 percent) from the field and 7-of-15 (47 percent) from three-point range, compared to the 27 of 63 (42 percent) and 5-of-20 (25 percent) showing for the Lady Lions. Duquesne held the edge on the glass (42 to 38), but turned the ball over 20 times compared to 14 takeaways.
 
Marisa led Penn State with a game-high 33 points on 12 of 27 shooting. The 33 points matches the most points scored by an individual player against Duquesne during Dan Burt's tenure as head coach. Former UConn All-American Katie Lou Samuelson dropped 33 on the Dukes on Dec. 22, 2017.

Myers (12.4 ppg.) was coming off of a career-high 23-point performance in the team's win over Saint Francis last Saturday afternoon. She has scored in double figures in each of the last three games after a four-game stretch without one.

McConnell hauled in 10 rebounds or more for the third time this season. She now leads the team with 6.1 per game.
 
Following the announcement that the Dukes' final non-conference tune-up with Cornell has been canceled, the team will break for Christmas and are scheduled to return to the court on New Year's Day when they travel to take on Richmond in their Atlantic 10 opener. The game is slated for a 4 p.m. tip and will broadcast on ESPN+.