Pittsburgh, Pa. – A career day from graduate student
Gabby Hutcherson boosted the Duquesne women's basketball team as it captured an 85-71 victory over Saint Francis on Sunday afternoon, inside the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. With the win, the Dukes improved to 4-2 overall this season.
POINT OF EMPHASIS
It was a hot start for both squads as they traded the opening 16 points of the contest. Duquesne responded with an 11-0 run to secure a 19-8 advantage. Freshman
Mackenzie Blackford sparked the run with a layup followed by a layup from junior
Jerni Kiaku and a triple from sophomore
Reina Green. A long ball from senior
Megan McConnell and a free-throw from graduate student
Gabby Hutcherson capped the stint. Saint Francis ended the first quarter on an 8-5 run as the Dukes led 24-16 after one. After a jumper from Natalie Johnson trimmed the Duquesne lead to 32-21, the two teams went scoreless over the next two minutes. Duquesne countered with 11 consecutive points as junior
Andjela Matic started the stint with a pair from the chalk as Green hit two free-throws to increase the lead. Kiaku collected a steal and a layup before McConnell buried a triple and Hutcherson connected on a turnaround jumper to grab its largest lead of the contest, (43-21). Hutcherson would end the half with a jumper as the Dukes took a 50-29 lead into the break.
FORCING THE ISSUE
Duquesne continues to be one of top teams in the country in causing turnovers and the Dukes continued that trend this afternoon. For the fifth straight game, the Dukes forced 20+ turnovers in causing Saint Francis into 27 miscues. Duquesne caused 17 turnovers in the first half alone, 10 of them coming in the second quarter. They collected its second highest total of steals (15) during Sunday's contest, with seven different Dukes collecting a takeaway.
Megan McConnell led the way with four steals while Jerni Kuaku and
Mackenzie Blackford each tallied three.
Gabby Hutcherson registered a pair of takeaways for Duquesne.
CLUTCH HUTCH
It was a career day for grad student
Gabby Hutcherson as she paced four Dukes in double figures. She carded a career-best 22 points on an impressive 10-of-12 shooting (83.3 %) from the floor. Hutcherson ended with six rebounds while collecting two steals and a pair of blocks in the win. The Ohio native netted 12 of her 22 points in the second half, shooting 6-of-7 from the field. Hutcherson led Duquesne with eight points in the third quarter while posting a team-high seven points in the second quarter. The graduate student is averaging 10.2 points per game while shooting .510 percent from the field for the Dukes. Her 22-point performance in her first 20-point game of her career while her 10 field goals is a career best as well.
QUOTABLE
"It's exciting," Hutcherson said. "I'm finally feeling at home, feeling like myself, and feeling like really starting to play my true game. And I think it's due to the confidence that the coaches my teammates constantly put into me. We're unselfish with the ball and when I'm posted up and I have an advantage size wise, down low, they're always looking for me to get it inside and go to work. They have confidence in me, like I said. We're a pretty athletic team, we're long, we're fast and it's all the things that I love to play basketball."
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Three other Dukes finished in double digits.
Megan McConnell ended with 17 points, seven assists, six rebounds, and four steals.
Jerni Kiaku finished with 16 points, four rebounds, three assists, and three steals while
Mackenzie Blackford recorded 10 points, three steals, and a pair of rebounds.
Andjela Matic tied for the team-lead with six boards while posting six points as
Reina Green registered six points and five rebounds during the win.
QUOTABLE
"We're not overly happy with the way that we executed in the days leading up to this game and at moments during this game," head coach
Dan Burt said. "If we're going to be a team that competes for a championship in March, we had some slippage and didn't play great today. Credit Saint Francis for making shots today and getting us on some breaking the press and getting us on some of those opportunities for them, but really happy for
Gabby Hutcherson to play so well today, 10-for-12 from the field, 22 points and six rebounds. I thought Gabby really made the biggest difference in the game, but we had really outstanding contributions from Jerni, Megan, and
Reina Green.
Mackenzie Blackford also played very well today. Again, it was a performance where we were able to dominate pretty much for 35 minutes of the game. But we tried to play some different combinations and at the end of the day we came away with a win and we move forward."
UP NEXT
Duquesne returns to action on Wednesday, Dec. 4, when it travels to cross-town rival Pitt, with the opening tip scheduled for 6:00 p.m.
