GAMES 11 & 12
Duquesne (6-4) vs Maine (6-5)
Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023 | 3:30 p.m. ET / 2:30 p.m. CT
New Orleans, La.| Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse (4,100)

Duquesne (6-4) vs Tulane (5-4) or Little Rock (0-9)
Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023 | 12:00 p.m. ET or 2:30 p.m. ET
New Orleans, La.| Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse (4,100)

OPENING TIP
- The Dukes hit the road as they travel to New Orleans, La., to take part in the Tulane Holiday Tournament. Duquesne will battle Maine to kick off the tournament on Wednesday before playing either the host Tulane or Little Rock on Thursday.

- A late run for the Duquesne women's basketball team fell short as it dropped a 77-61 decision at Vermont on Saturday (12/16) afternoon in non-conference action inside Patrick Gymnasium.

- Megan McConnell paced the Dukes with 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the floor. She finished with eight boards and a team-high four steals. Amaya Hamilton carded 10 points, three rebounds, two assists, and a pair of blocks.

 - Nae Bernard ended with eight points and four caroms. Tess Myers totaled seven points and three steals while Precious Johnson and Ayanna Townsend finished with six points each. Johnson also collected four boards and three blocks while Townsend captured a pair of rejections.

- Trailing at the half, the Dukes continued to battle as they trimmed the Catamounts lead to eight midway through the third quarter. The two teams continued to trade buckets to begin the second half before a triple from junior Tess Myers sparked a 11-4 spurt for the Dukes.

- Townsend made 1-of-2 from the charity stripe before McConnell buried a pair at the line. After a missed layup from Vermont, senior Amaya Hamilton connected on a three from the top of the key, followed by a driving layup to get Duquesne within eight.

- The Dukes made a final push in the fourth quarter as they erased a 20 point deficit down to nine with just under five minutes to play. Sophomore Jerni Kiaku registered a basket followed by a layup and triple from McConnell. McConnell would connect on a pair of free-throws before Myers capped the 11-0 run with a layup. Over the final four minutes, Vermont held the Dukes without a field goal, carding a 9-2 stint to end the game.

- Duquesne will be idle for the Holiday break before starting Atlantic 10 play again, when it travels to Dayton on Saturday, Dec. 30, for an 8:00 p.m. tipoff.

The Series vs. Maine – It'll be the first time in over a decade when the Dukes and Black Bears square off on Wednesday evening. The two squads haven't met since 2011 in the Gator Holiday Classic on the campus of University of Florida, where Duquesne set a new program record with its eighth straight victory after a 76-38 victory. Alex Gensler led all scorers with 15 points while Wumi Agunbiade scored 12 and collected six boards, three blocks, and a pair of steals. Carly Vendemia and Orsi Szecsi added 10 each while Szecsi added a team-high eight rebounds and four steals. The Dukes shot 50.8 percent (31-for-61) from the field while mounting 40 points in the paint and 34 point off turnovers. Duquesne forced 30 turnovers in the win and tallied 20 steals against Maine.

Scouting the Black Bears – Maine is coming off a tough loss to James Madison this past Sunday (12/17), dropping a 78-71 decision at home. Graduate student Anne Simon matched her career-high with 34 points, including a new career-best eight three pointers made for the Black Bears. She finished 11-of-27 from the floor while shooting 8-of-18 from long range and added seven rebounds, four assists, and a pair of steals. Adrianna Smith added 19 points, nine rebounds, and five assists as she ran her double-digit scoring streak to eight in a row. Jaycie Christopher contributed 11 points in 32 minutes off the bench. As a team, the Black Bears posted a season-high 13 triples and set a new school record with 43 attempts from beyond the arc. Maine also set a season-low in turnovers as it gave it away just five times.

Apart of the America East Conference, Maine was selected second in the preseason poll while featuring the reigning America East Player of the Year in Adrianna Smith and preseason all-conference member Anne Simon. Simon currently leads the league in scoring (20.3 ppg) and minutes played (35.6) while sitting fourth in rebounds (10.8 rpg). She has finished in double-figures in five straight games while scoring 27 or more points in three of her last four contests. Smith sits eighth in scoring (13.2) while pacing the conference with 10.8 rebounds per game. She has netted double-digits in eight straight contests while producing six double-doubles this season. Smith currently leads he Black Bears and ranks third in the America East with 4.1 assists per contest while leading the conference in assist/turnover ratio at 1.6.

The Series vs. Tulane – The Dukes and Green Waves have never met as Thursday could be the first meeting between the two squads. A member of the American Athletic Conference, Tulane is coming off back-to-back victories, earning a 90-63 victory over New Orleans before capturing a 67-52 win over Howard. The Green Wave features three players averaging double-figures, led by Kyren Whittington. Whittington leads the way with 16.7 points per game while grabbing 4.3 rebounds, 3.3 steals, and 2.2 assists per contest. She has scored in double-digits in eight of Tulane's nine contests while posting consecutive 22-point performances. Marta Galic and Hannah Pratt both average 13.6 points and 1.7 assists while Pratt is corralling 5.8 boards and Galic is collecting 5.2. Galic has netted double-digit scoring in eight contests as Pratt has registered seven games in double-figures.

The Series vs. Little Rock – It would be the first ever meeting if the Dukes and Trojans squared off as Little Rock has lost nine straight games to begin the season. The Trojans have played a strong non-conference schedule, including four SEC teams (Arkansas, Alabama, Ole Miss, and Auburn) and one Big 12 opponent (#12 Kansas State). A part of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC), Little Rock is led by Faith Lee, who is averaging 12.8 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1.1 steals per contest. She's the only Trojan averaging double-digits as she has posted six double-figure games. Jaiyah Harris-Smith sits second at 9.7 points while leading the team with 5.3 assists a game. Tia Harvey sits third on the team at 7.7 points and 2.3 boards over the last three contests while the team is scoring just over 50 points per contest.

Weekly Honor – Junior guard Tess Myers was selected as the A-10 Player of the Week for her performance last week. Myers helped the Dukes go 1-1 on the week as they secured an 89-69 victory over Longwood on Thursday (12/14) before dropping a 77-61 decision at Vermont (12/16). Myers received the honor for the first time in her career and is the first Duke to earn the award since teammate Megan McConnell was selected last February. She registered a career-high 35 points while shooting a career-best 66.7 (12-of-18) percent from the floor. The Lower Burrell native broke the all-time program record for most triples made in a single game with 11. Myers finished 11-of-16 (68.8 percent) from deep which is the most three-pointers made by any NCAA Division I player this season while also being the single game record for the Atlantic 10 conference. Her 35 points sits tied for 12th best in program history and ranks second all-time under head coach Dan Burt.

Chasing Milestones – The Dukes have something that not many teams in the country can say and that's five players chasing to surpass 1,000 career points. Tess Myers is the closest so far, sitting at 935 while Amaya Hamilton is right behind her at 918. Ayanna Townsend has registered 889 career points while Precious Johnson has totaled 854. Megan McConnell is the last Duke chasing the honor, as she has carded 848 points in her career. Hamilton is averaging 10.1 points, 5.4 boards, 2.4 assists, and 1.3 steals per game for the Dukes. Earlier this season, she recorded a career-high 28 points at Bowling Green. Townsend sits at 6.0 points and 3.5 rebounds while shooting .407 from the field this season. Johnson paces Duquesne in blocks while sitting fourth in the conference in both blocks per game (1.60) and total rejections (16). McConnell continues to lead the Dukes in multiple categories. Including points (12.6), rebounds (8.2), assists (4.4), steals (2.9) and minutes (38.9).

FOLLOW THE DUKES
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