PITTSBURGH – A late surge propelled the Duquesne women's basketball team to a 67-55 win over George Mason Wednesday evening in an Atlantic 10 contest inside UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.
The Dukes (8-11, 3-4 A-10) were led by four players in double figures, including a team high 15 points from
Tess Myers (Lower Burrell, Pa./North Catholic). Myers, who had three points at the half, knocked down four of her last six attempts from long range to help Duquesne pull away late.
Laia Sole (Igualada, Spain / INS Joaquim Blume) finished with 14 points, while both
Fatou Pouye (Kaolack, Senegal/Glasgow Christian Academy) and
Precious Johnson (Helsinborg, Sweden/Marks) finished with 12, apiece.
Megan McConnell (Pittsburgh, Pa./Chartiers Valley) filled up the stat sheet with eight points and team highs of nine rebounds, seven assists, and four steals.
Three pointers by Myers and Pouye in the first four minutes gave the Dukes an 8-2 lead. George Mason (6-12, 0-6 A-10) answered back with six-straight of its own and went basket-for-basket with Duquesne throughout the first quarter. The Dukes never relinquished the lead and headed into the second quarter ahead 15-12.
Duquesne took its largest lead of the first half on a McConnell layup that made the score 31-21 with 4:14 to play until halftime. The Dukes maintained a comfortable margin and eventually took a 37-29 lead into the locker rooms.
Duquesne struggled from the field to open the third quarter. A Johnson layup at the 4:21-mark was the team's first field goal of the second half and made the score 42-38. Mason answered with seven-straight points to put the Dukes in the hole for the first time all evening at 45-42 with 1:22 to play in the third quarter. The Patriots led 46-44 with less than 10 seconds in the third, when Myers knocked down a corner-three that snapped a run of 10-straight Duquesne missed three-point attempts and gave the Dukes a 47-46 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
The Myers three pointer at the end of the third kicked off a 23-4 scoring run for Duquesne that built the lead to 67-50 with 4:16 to play in the game. The Dukes converted 9-of-14 attempts from the field and forced Mason into six turnovers during the run. Duquesne ran clock in each of its final possessions and held off the Patriots to secure a 12-point win.
The Dukes finished with a season-low six turnovers. The team had just seven in their previous outing versus Saint Louis.
George Mason's Amaya Scott, who entered the night second in the A-10 at 18.6 ppg., was limited to 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting. Taylor Jameson led the Patriots with 16 points.
Duquesne has defeated George Mason in all 10 meetings since the Patriots joined the A-10 for the 2013-14 season. It was the seventh time during that span that the Dukes won by double digits.
Duquesne returns to the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse floor on Sunday, Jan. 30, to take on La Salle. The game is set to tip at 2 p.m. and will broadcast on ESPN+.
