PITTSBURGH – The Dukes used a huge fourth quarter effort to pull away for a 63-44 win over St. Bonaventure Saturday afternoon in an Atlantic 10 game at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.
 
Duquesne (6-9, 1-2 A-10) scored 17-straight and out-scored the Bonnies (8-5, 0-2 A-10) 23-5 in the fourth quarter to earn its first league win of the season.
 
Fatou Pouye (Kaolack, Senegal/Glasgow Christian) led four players in double figures. She paced the Dukes with 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting, despite playing just 16 minutes due to foul trouble. Tess Myers (Lower Burrell, Pa./North Catholic) posted 13 points and a career-best seven rebounds, while Megan McConnell (Pittsburgh, Pa./Chartiers Valley) added 12 points and team highs of eight rebounds and five assists. Laia Sole (Igualada, Spain/INS Joaquim Blume) also chipped in 11 points in the win.
 
Both teams struggled from the field in the early stages of the game. Neither team led by more than two points, before heading into the second quarter tied at 11-11.
 
With the game tied at 15, the Dukes scored seven-straight to take a 22-15 lead with 2:15 remaining in the second quarter. The Bonnies trimmed the lead back to four, 23-19, before a basket by Halle Bovell (Hamilton, Ontario/St. Mary's) with 15 seconds left in the half helped the Dukes enjoy a 27-19 advantage at the break.
 
Despite continuing to struggle from the field, Duquesne maintained the lead for the first seven minutes of the third quarter. After Pouye picked up her fourth foul with 3:06 on the clock, St. Bonaventure took its only lead of the second half with 2:15 to play in the third quarter. A Myers jumper 17 seconds later returned the lead to the Dukes at 40-39 heading into the final period.
 
Duquesne finally found its stroke in the fourth quarter. The Dukes scored the first 15 points of the period, including three-straight treys by Myers, McConnell and Sole that built the lead to 55-39 with 4:42 to play in the game. Duquesne kept pouring it on and led by as many as 22 points to pull away for the victory.
 
Duquesne shot 15-of-43 (34 percent) from the field through the first three quarters, before knocking down 8-of-12 in the fourth quarter surge. The Dukes, who finished with 16 assists on the afternoon, assisted on seven of the eight fourth quarter field goals. St. Bonaventure was limited to a 16-of-58 (27 percent) outing, including a 2-of-13 (15 percent) showing in the fourth quarter.
 
The Dukes opened the game with 18-straight missed three-point shots, before Myers ended the drought in the fourth quarter on the first of three-straight treys. The team's 4-for-23 (17 percent) outing is a season-low in three pointers made.
 
St. Bonaventure's A-10 Third Team All-Conference guard Asianae Johnson (15.9 ppg.) was limited to six points on 2-of-15 shooting. I'yanna Lops and Ene Adams led the Bonnies with 10 points, apiece.
 
Duquesne's 17-0 run and its 22-point lead were both its largest of the season. The Dukes went on a 16-0 run to open their win over Lafayette earlier this season and held a 20-point lead over Akron in that win.
 
The 44 points allowed by Duquesne is the fewest points yielded since the Dukes limited the Bonnies to 39 on Jan. 30, 2020.
 
Duquesne's 43 wins in the all-time series against St. Bonaventure are the most against a single opponent.
 
The Dukes will have a week off before traveling to North Carolina on Saturday, Jan. 15 to take on Davidson in another A-10 game. The contest is set to tip off at 1 p.m. and will broadcast on ESPN+.