Philadelphia, Pa. – The Duquesne women's basketball team concluded its two-game road trip on Saturday afternoon, slipping at Saint Joseph's 77-62 at the Michael J. Hagan '85 Arena in Atlantic 10 action. With the loss, the Dukes fall to 8-7 overall, with a 3-2 mark in conference action.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
It was an entertaining opening quarter as Saint Joseph's (15-2, 4-1) jumped out to an early 5-3 lead before Duquesne strung together an 11-0 run. Senior Precious Johnson sparked the run with consecutive layups before a jumper by junior Tess Myers forced a Hawk timeout. Out of the break, senior Amaya Hamilton buried a left-wing triple before sophomore Jerni Kiaku drained a jumper to cap the stint, 14-5. Saint Joseph's would respond, ending the quarter by scoring 10 of the final 12 points to trail 16-15 after one. The second quarter didn't disappoint as both teams shot over 57.0 percent from the floor. The Hawks registered seven straight points to begin the quarter before holding a 31-24 at the media timeout.

After a layup by Julia Nystrom, Hamilton would convert back-to-back three-point plays, trimming the Hawks lead, 33-30 with 2:18 remaining in the half. Junior Megan McConnell would keep the scoring going for the Dukes, carding her first triple of the half to knot the score before a pair of free-throws from Saint Joseph's, gave them a 35-33 advantage. On the following possession, Myers would knock down a corner triple off a feed from McConnell before the Hawks connected on consecutive layups to hold a 39-36 lead heading into the break.

THE SCRIPT HAD FLIPPED
Saint Joseph's remained consistent to begin the second half, mounting a 12-0 run while hitting 4-of-7 shots from the field in the opening three minutes. Three of the four jumpers for the Hawks came from behind the arc. The Dukes wouldn't shy away as they put together a 10-6 spurt to trim the deficit, 57-46. Myers and McConnell connected on triples while Kiaku and senior Ayanna Townsend registered a bucket during the stint. Saint Joseph's held a 61-48 advantage heading to the final 10 minutes. Duquesne would fire on all cylinders to begin the fourth, shooting 4-of-4 from the field that led to a 10-3 stint to trim the lead 64-58. Kiaku started the run with a floater in the lane before a triple by Hamilton and a layup by freshman Gabby Grantham-Medley continued the run. Myers would cap the stint and force a timeout with her third triple of the afternoon. The Dukes would get as close as eight multiple times as the Hawks consistently answered with a run.

QUOTABLE
"When you play a team as good as Saint Joseph's and they're as good as anyone in our league, you can't have a lot of mistakes," head coach Dan Burt said. "We shot the ball poorly from point blank range in the opening quarters and we needed to convert those. They picked us apart a little bit with the pick and roll action but we need to have greater ball pressure on their guards and have to box out a lot stronger and more aggressive."

STEADY SCORING
The Hawks featured just five players scoring this afternoon, three of them combining for 66 of Saint Joseph's 77 total points. Laura Ziegler led all scorers with 25 points on 11-of-13 shooting from the floor, including 3-for-3 from deep. She added 10 boards, four assists, and two blocks while Talya Brugler finished with 23 points on 10-of-19 shooting, seven rebounds, and three blocks. Mackenzie Smith was the final Hawk in double-figures, tallying 18 points on 6-of-8 from the floor and 3-for-5 from behind the arc. The trio combined 27-of-40 from the floor, including 6-of-10 from long range.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
A pair of Dukes finished in double-figures, led by Amaya Hamilton, who tallied 18 points, five rebounds, two assists, one block, and one steal. Hamilton registered 10 of her 18 in the second quarter, shooting 4-of-7 from the field. Tess Myers tallied 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the floor, including 3-for-5 from long range. She collected a team-high four assists and three rebounds on Saturday. Megan McConnell and Jerni Kiaku each posted eight points while McConnell tallied six boards and a pair of triples.

UP NEXT
Duquesne returns to Pittsburgh, when it hosts St. Bonaventure on Wednesday, Jan. 17, for a conference match inside UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, beginning at 6:00 p.m.