PITTSBURGH – The Duquesne women's basketball team was handed a 50-48 loss by George Washington Wednesday evening at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.
 
The Dukes (9-14, 4-7 A-10) were led by Libby Bazelak (Kettering, Ohio/Alter), who was just shy of a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds. Precious Johnson (Helsinborg, Sweden/Marks) finished with 11 points, while Megan McConnell (Pittsburgh, Pa./Chartiers Valley) added seven points, five rebounds and a career-high eight steals in the loss.
 
GW (8-14, 1-8 A-10) took the largest lead of the first quarter at 5-2 90 seconds into the contest. The ensuing eight minutes saw three tie scores and four lead changes, before the contest heading into the second quarter tied at 10-10.
 
The Colonials amassed their biggest lead of the game when they went in front 21-15 with 2:13 to play until halftime. Johnson managed to draw the Dukes back within one point on free throws and a three pointer that cut the deficit to 21-20 at the break.
 
Duquesne opened the second half with a 9-4 spurt, capped off by a Tess Myers (Lower Burrell, Pa./North Catholic) trey that made the score 29-25 with 4:31 left in the third quarter. GW managed to tie the game up at 32-32, but a steal-and-basket by McConnell and a Myers triple as time expired in the quarter allowed the Dukes to take a 37-32 lead into the fourth quarter.
 
Duquesne enjoyed its largest-lead of the game following a basket-and-one by Halle Bovell (Hamilton, Ontario/St. Mary's) that made the score 40-34 with 6:16 left in the game. GW scored seven-straight and held the Dukes scoreless for nearly four minutes to take a 41-40 advantage. After Duquesne reclaimed the lead at 42-41, the Colonials promptly took it back with 1:34 to play in the game. GW made seven-straight free throws in the final 26 seconds to stay in front and deal the Dukes another narrow loss.
 
Duquesne shot 14 of 59 (24 percent), including just 2-of-16 (12.5 percent) in the fourth quarter alone. Despite its record, GW entered the game ranked second in the A-10 and 38^th in Division I with a scoring defense of 56.7 points per game. The Colonials were 18 of 50 (36 percent) from the field.
 
The Dukes were 13 of 20 (65 percent) from the free-throw line, compared to the 10 of 12 (83 percent) showing by GW. The Colonials made 9-of-10 from the line in the fourth quarter.
 
There were nine lead changes and six tie scores.
 
Mayowa Taiwo led GW with 15 points. The Colonials snapped an eight-game losing streak.
 
This was the 72^nd meeting between the two teams, which is Duquesne's most-common opponent all-time. The Colonials have now won 57 of those contests.
 
Duquesne will try to get back on track on Sunday, Feb. 13 when it travels to Amherst to take on Massachusetts at noon. The game will be televised nationwide on CBS Sports Network.