Pittsburgh, Pa. – The Duquesne women's basketball team bounced back on Tuesday night, capturing a 75-73 victory over Fordham in overtime in its Atlantic 10 opener, inside the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. With the victory, the Dukes snap a two-game skid and improve to 4-3 overall and 1-0 in conference play. Meanwhile, the Rams drop to 5-4 this season, with an 0-1 mark in league action.
FREE BASKETBALL
Duquesne entered the fourth quarter with a 53-37 advantage, until Fordham erased a 16-point deficit by shooting 11-for-15 (73.3 percent) from the field and 3-of-4 from behind the arc in the final frame to force overtime. In OT, the Rams secured the first basket before sophomore
Jerni Kiaku knotted the score at 67-all with a driving layup. Fordham would string together a 3-0 run before a triple by junior guard
Tess Myers tied it with 2:00 minutes remaining. The two teams traded possessions before a layup by junior
Kiandra Browne gave the Dukes its first lead in extra minutes. After forcing a contested three on the following possession, Browne found Myers on a backdoor cut to give Duquesne a 74-70 lead with 23 seconds remaining. Mandy McGurk would be fouled on a three-point attempt, where she connected on all three. After a pair of missed free-throws by the Dukes, an offensive rebound was secured by senior
Amaya Hamilton to give Duquesne another opportunity as sophomore
Nae Bernard went one-of-two from the line.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
It was a stagnant first quarter as neither team could find a grove offensively from the field. Fordham jumped out to an early 4-3 lead before extending its advantage to 8-3 with consecutive buckets. Duquesne would respond by scoring eight of the next 11 points, thanks to a pair of triples from Bernard and junior guard
Megan McConnell, before a pull up jumper by Kiaku capped the run, 11-11. Later in the quarter the Dukes would go cold, as they finished the quarter 1-for-11 from the field and Fordham mounted a 6-1 run to claim a 17-12 lead after one.
DEFENSE STIFFENS
Duquesne turned up the defensive pressure in the second quarter, holding the Rams to just 3-for-15 (20.0 percent) from the field. Fordham would jump out to a 21-15 lead with 7:00 minutes to go before a shot from beyond the arc by Bernard and a layup by Browne trimmed the deficit, 21-20. The Rams would go silent as they went scoreless for a span of six minutes, where they were 0-of-7 from the field and committed five turnovers. The Dukes would take advantage, securing a 24-23 lead over the final three minutes. Kiaku and senior forward
Precious Johnson both connected on layups to give Duquesne the lead heading into the locker room.
THE RUN
Leading 35-31 out of the media timeout, the Dukes mounted a massive 18-4 run over the final 4:20 of the third quarter. After a jumper from Fordham's Taylor Donaldson, Johnson connected on a layup followed by a driving layup from Bernard. Donaldson would connect on a pair from the line for the Rams before Myers buried back-to-back shots from deep, to give the Dukes a 10-point advantage. A Fordham bucket trimmed the lead before a Browne layup and McConnell triple pushed the lead back to double-digits. With just 14 seconds remaining, the Rams would misfire from behind the arc before McConnell buried her second straight three, this one from the top of the key as time expired.
QUOTABLE
"For several years, I didn't have an appreciation for every win and would not be happy and I'm not happy with our performance by any stretch tonight," head coach
Dan Burt said. "But you have to appreciate the fact that we won the game and will enjoy the win. I always say, it's a win and we'll enjoy it till midnight but then we'll really have to drill down into the issues that we have and find a way to get better." Burt explained. "I'm happy that we handled some adversity tonight and still came away with a win."
FOUR IS MORE
Four Dukes finished in double-figures tonight, led by
Nae Bernard for the second game in arow. She finished with 17 points on 6-of-12 from the floor, including four threes. Bernard posted a career-high six assists while collecting three rebounds and two steals.
Tess Myers and
Precious Johnson each tallied 13 points as Myers totaled all 13 in the second half while posting a season high eight rebounds, two steals, two assists, and one block. Johnson registered 11 of her 13 in the second half, shooting 5-for-5 from the field while carding five boards and two blocks.
Megan McConnell was the final Duke in double-digits, netting 12 points, nine caroms, and four steals. The four combined for all 11 three-pointers by the Dukes in the win.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
In her first start of the season,
Kiandra Browne recorded a career-high 10 rebounds while tallying nine points, three assists, and two blocks.
Jerni Kiaku ended the night with six points, five boards, and four assists while
Amaya Hamilton collected five points and five rebounds, all offensive in the win.
UP NEXT
Duquesne continues its homestand when it hosts Kent State on Sunday, Dec. 10, with tip-off scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
