University Park, Pa. – Senior guard Megan McConnell surpassed 500 assists for her career but the Duquesne University women's basketball dropped a 92-83 decision to Penn State on Sunday afternoon inside the Bryce Jordan Center. With the slip, the Dukes fall to 1-1 on the season.

POINT OF EMPHASIS
It was a blistering start for Duquesne as it jumped out to an early 12-4 lead just two-minutes into the contest, thanks to three triples from three different Dukes. After a two-minute scoring drought from both teams, Duquesne stretched its lead to 23-10 with 3:55 to go in the opening quarter. Junior guard Jerni Kiaku sparked the run with a layup, followed by a triple from freshman Nadia Moore. After the Lady Lions buried a long ball, graduate student Gabby Hutcherson answered with a triple of her own before a steal by Kiaku and three-pointer from freshman Mackenzie Blackford capped the run. Duquesne ended the quarter on a 7-4 to hold a 30-15 advantage after the opening stanza. Penn State opened the second quarter on a 10-5 stint to trim the deficit, 35-25 before sophomore Reina Green connected on a long ball to push the lead back to 13. Over the next three-minutes, the Lady Lions strung together a 12-0 run which trimmed the deficit 38-37 with just over four-minutes left in the half. A triple by Gabby Elliot would knot the score at 43-all before senior Megan McConnell went one-of-two from the line to give Duquesne a 44-43 advantage at the break.

QUOTABLE
"We were happy with that first quarter being up 15 and playing with great energy while making shots," head coach Dan Burt said. "We weren't able to hold on to that, but we led for almost the entire first and second quarter and I thought we learned a lot about ourselves. We have things that we have to clean up and get better at. This is game two of the year and we're playing a new system. We're playing a lot of young people, a lot of freshmen, and we'll grow from this."

CAUGHT FIRE
A pair of free-throws in the third quarter from senior Kiandra Browne knotted the score at 53-53 before another pair at the chalk from Browne gave the Dukes a two-point advantage with 3:30 remaining. Penn State (3-0) responded with a 13-6 stint to end the quarter (66-61), thanks to three triples in the final three-minutes. A jumper by Kiaku in the lane and a free-throw from the junior started the fourth but the Lady Lions netted 13 of the next 15 points as their lead swelled to its largest of the game, 79-66. Duquesne would cut the Penn State lead to seven (81-74) on a long ball from McConnell but that's as close of the Dukes would get. The Lady Lions shot an impressive .636 percent (7-for-11) from behind the arc in the second half after shooting 6-of-14 in the opening 20 minutes. Penn State finished the game shooting .500 percent (29-of-58) from the floor while going 13-for-25 (.520 percent) from long range.

THE BIG THREE
Three Dukes finished in double digits on Sunday, led by Megan McConnell. She fell just short of a triple-double, registered 21 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists while shooting .692 percent (9-of-13) from the floor. Gabby Hutcherson finished with a career-high 16 points, on 4-of-6 shooting (.667 percent) from behind the arc. She tallied three rebounds and two steals on Sunday. Jerni Kiaku was the final Dukes in double digits, ending with 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting (.556) while collecting a rebound, assist, and a steal. The trio combined to go 6-of-12 from long range for the Dukes.

QUOTABLE
"Hutch played a great basketball game today shooting the ball from the three-point line. She was active defensively and I think that we handled her substitutions better than the first game," Burt continued. "Jerni is shooting the ball very well and Meg is Meg with a near triple double. Kiandra does little things that don't show up in the stats that were positive today, but overall, we just didn't have quite enough against a good Penn State team."

THE BOX SCORE
Kiandra Browne, Andjela Matic, and Nadia Moore all chipped in six points each while Browne and Matic each tallied a pair of steals. Duquesne forced Penn State into 26 turnovers while scoring 26 points off those miscues. The Lady Lions used its size to an advantage out rebounding the Dukes 42-27, especially on the offensive glass (15-8).

UP NEXT
Duquesne returns home to Pittsburgh when it hosts Niagara on Saturday, Nov. 16, at 7:00 p.m. inside UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse for a non-conference match.