Pittsburgh, Pa. – Playing its first game inside UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse in 2024, the Duquesne women's basketball team dropped a 101-75 decision to a hot shooting George Mason on Sunday afternoon, in Atlantic 10 action. With the loss, Dukes drop to 7-7 overall and suffer its first loss in conference action at 2-1. Meanwhile, the Patriots improve 11-3 this season, behind a 2-1 mark in league play.

POINT OF EMPHASIS
It was an entertaining opening 10 minutes as both teams were red hot from the field. Duquesne opened the game shooting 63.2 percent (12-for-19) from the field while George Mason shot 58.8 percent (10-of-17). The Patriots hit their first three shots of the contest, two of them coming from behind the arc to take a quick 8-2 lead. Over the next two and half minutes, the Dukes found its groove, netting a 10-4 stint to knot the score at 12-all with 5:36 remaining. Four different Dukes found the bottom of the net during the run, led by senior Ayanna Townsend who collected a pair of baskets. After a three-point play by the Patriots, redshirt senior Lauren Wasylson and junior Megan McConnell buried back-to-back triples to give Duquesne its first lead of the afternoon, 18-15. The Dukes would lead by one coming out of the media timeout before scoring eight of the final 13 points to hold a 31-27 lead after one. Senior Amaya Hamilton tallied a bucket, followed by an old fashion three-point play from Townsend on the next possession. Junior Tess Myers would cap the run with a long ball for the Dukes.

Unfortunately, it was a choppy second quarter for Duquesne as the offense went stale. The Dukes shot just 13.3 percent (2-of-15) from the floor and were outscored by George Mason 21-6 in the quarter. The Patriots opened the quarter on a 17-1 run, where they were 7-for-14 from the field before holding a 48-37 advantage at intermission.

SECOND HALF STINGERS
The Patriots opened the second half on a 10-3 run, grabbing its largest lead of the quarter, 58-40. Duquesne wouldn't shy away as it responded by scoring 14 of the next 19 points to trim the deficit to single digits. Junior Nae Bernard paced the spurt with eight points, knocking down a pair of triples and two free-throws. Townsend, McConnell, and Hamilton all registered scores during the run. Out of the media timeout, the Dukes would cut the deficit to six (63-57) on a hook shot by senior Precious Johnson, but that's as close they would get. George Mason would mount a 12-6 run before leading 75-65 after three quarters. In the final stanza, the Patriots would shoot 9-for-14 (64.3 percent) from the floor, including 55.6 percent (5-of-9) from behind the arc as they put together a 16-0 run in a span of four minutes to pull away.

SHOOTING LIGHTS OUT
George Mason came into the game as one of the top scoring teams in the conference and they showed why. The Patriots shot 56.1 percent (37-of-66) from the field and an incredible 18-of-35 (51.4 percent) from long range. They shot 62.1 percent alone in the second half while connecting on 10 of their 18 triples. Sonia Smith carded a game-high 30 points on 11-of-17 from the floor, including 5-of-10 from deep. She scored 17 of her 30 in the first half while collecting nine rebounds and eight assists. Kennedy Harris finished with 23 points after shooting 8-of-13 from the field and 5-for-9 from behind the arc. Duquesne didn't play a bad game offensively, registering five players in double figures while shooting over 60.0 percent in the first quarter and 53.0 percent to begin the second half.

THE QUINTET
For the second time this season, the Dukes had five players finish in double-figures. Megan McConnell finished with her 17th career double-double and fourth this season, carding 17 points, 11 rebounds, and handing out seven assists. She shot 4-of-8 from the field and 4-for-6 from the charity stripe while collecting six offensive rebounds. Amaya Hamilton and Ayanna Townsend each finished with 12 points while Townsend collected five rebounds and went 6-for-7 from the free-throw line. Hamilton scored 10 of her 12 in the second half, shooting 5-of-10 from the floor. Nae Bernard and Precious Johnson both totaled 11 points while Bernard posted her ninth game this season with 3+ triples. Johnson ended with five caroms, a season-high three steals, and two assists while shooting a perfect 3-of-3 from the field and 5-for-6 from the charity stripe. The five combined for 60 of the Dukes 75 points.

INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
Lauren Wasylson finished with six points off a pair of triples while collecting three rebounds as Tess Myers ended with five points and three boards. Duquesne mounted 32 points in the paint compared to the Patriots 26 while collecting 11 fastbreak points to their 2. The difference was from behind the arc but also coming off the bench as George Mason totaled 42 bench points in comparison to the Dukes 21. The Patriots saw 23 points come from Kennedy Harris and 10 points from Taylor Jameson.

UP NEXT
Duquesne hits the road for a pair of conference matches, traveling to George Washington on Wednesday, Jan. 10 before battling Saint Joseph's on Saturday, Jan. 13.

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