Pittsburgh, Pa. – The Duquesne women's basketball team opened Atlantic 10 play while concluding its five-game homestand Sunday, dropping a 76-70 decision to Davidson inside UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, With the loss, the Dukes fall to 9-3 overall and 0-1 in conference action while dropping its first contest since Nov. 20.

POINT OF EMPHASIS
It was a hot start for Duquesne as it jumped out to an early 10-4 lead while hitting four of its first six shots of the contest. Senior Kiandra Browne led the charge with six points while junior Jerni Kiaku and sophomore Reina Green each carded a basket. The Wildcats would even the score at 13-all after a 9-3 stint before taking its first lead of the game (18-17) with just under two minutes in the opening stanza. Kiaku would bury a triple to regain the lead for the as Davidson tied the score 20-20 to end the first quarter. Shooting woes in the second quarter made a difference for the Dukes as they shot just 25.0 percent from the floor while the Wildcats shot 60.0 percent from the field. After a pair of free-throws from sophomore Raymi Coueta to begin the second quarter, Davison mounted a 13-4 surge to extend its lead 33-26 with 4:23 remaining in the half. Duquesne would cut the deficit to five with buckets from Kiaku and Green before the Wildcats took a 40-31 advantage into the break.

QUOTABLE
"Today was not our best day, and I think Davidson had a lot to do with that" Head coach Dan Burt said. "I think they were very well coached, they handled our press very well, they played with a calmness and a sense of veteran experience, and that's what they are. For a fair amount of the game, we had three freshmen on the floor, and it wasn't just the freshman that made mistakes. I made mistakes. Our experience people made mistakes. You can rest assured that I'm not happy with how the game went, especially in the second and third quarter."

LATE RUN
Davidson (6-7, 1-0) grew its lead to 15 (56-41) with just under a minute to go in the third quarter before the Dukes would try and mount a comeback. Duquesne would cut the lead to six three different times in the fourth quarter but that's as close as it would get. A 9-4 run for the Dukes got things started from the third to fourth quarter as Kiaku paced the way with six points while Coueta carded three. Davidsons lead would swell back to 13 after netting five of the next seven points and would stay in double digits until the 2:32 mark, where senior Megan McConnell converted a driving layup. Duquesne shot 50.0 percent (9-of-18) from the field in the final quarter while holding Davidson to just 3-of-8 (37.5 percent) from the floor but the Wildcats went 14-of-22 (63.6 percent) from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter.

DYNAMIC DUO
Duquesne was led with a pair of 20-point efforts in Megan McConnell and Jerni Kiaku. McConnell finished with 29 points, six rebounds, three assists, and one steal on Sunday. She netted 22 of her 29 points in the second half, 20 of them coming in the fourth quarter alone. McConnell registered the final 20 points in the fourth quarter for Duquesne, shooting 8-of-11 from the field. It's her fourth 20-point effort of the season and ninth of her career. Kiaku ended with 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting (57.1 percent) from the field while collecting one board and one assist. She recorded 11 of her 21 in the first half, going 5-for-7 from the floor. It's the third 20-point outing of the season for the junior guard and the sixth of her career. The duo combined for 50 of the Dukes 70 points and both post 20-point performances for the first time this season together.

NOTES
Reina Green posted eight points and a season-high three steals while Kiandra Browne and Raymi Coueta netted seven and five points respectively … Duquesne held a 44-36 edge in points in the paint and a 17-5 lead in fast break points … Davidson featured three Wildcats in double figures, led by Katie Donovan, with 25 points, five rebounds, and one block. Chalise Dunn finished with 21 points and 16 rebounds while burying four three-pointers and Candice Lienafa chipped in 12 points and six rebounds … Duquesne shot a season low 18.8 percent from behind the arc (3-of-16) … Davidson went 20-of-29 from the foul-line

UP NEXT
Duquesne hits the road for the first time in over a month, when it travels to VCU on Thursday, Jan. 2 for a conference contest, beginning at 6:00 p.m.