Pittsburgh, Pa. – Behind two late triples from junior
Jerni Kiaku and senior
Kiandra Browne, the Duquesne women's basketball team captured a 73-69 victory at Pitt during the City Game, inside the Petersen Event Center on Wednesday night. With the win, the Dukes improved to 5-2 overall this season and won its second straight game against the Panthers and the first time inside Petersen Event Center since the 2019-20 campaign.
THE DAGGER
Graduate student
Gabby Hutcherson knotted the score at 63-all with a layup before giving the Dukes a 65-63 advantage with 4:43 left in the fourth quarter. Hutcherson would go to the chalk to extend the Duquesne with a pair of free-throws (67-63) before the two squads went scoreless for the next two minutes. MaKalya Elmore cut the deficit to two with a layup before Kiaku buried a right corner triple to stretch the Dukes lead back to five. The Panthers cut the lead to three with a pair of free-throws before Browne banked in a long ball as the shot clock expired the very next possession. Aislin Malcolm hit a jumper with five seconds remaining but the Dukes ran out the clock for the victory.
POINT OF EMPHASIS
Pitt jumped out to an early 6-2 lead before a layup from Hutcherson and a three-pointer by senior guard
Megan McConnell gave Duquesne a 7-6 advantage. Later in the quarter, sophomore
Reina Green tied the score at 10-10 with a top of the key triple before the Dukes ended the quarter on a 9-3 stint to hold a 19-14 advantage after the opening stanza. Duquesne started the second quarter by scoring eight of the next 11 points to lead 27-18 with 5:20 to go in the half. Browne started the run with a triple, followed by a layup from Kiaku. After a bucket from Pitt, Kiaku converted an old-fashioned three-point play, to boost the Dukes lead, 27-18. The two squads traded the next 12 minutes over three minutes before Duquesne took a 35-27 advantage into the break.
QUOTABLE
"Well, that's the city game," head coach
Dan Burt said. "When you play the city game, you really throw out every record and every stat and it's going to be exactly what today was. I'm really proud of our players and how they persevered. We really felt like it was never in doubt, even when Pitt took the lead and Coach Verti did some really nice stuff to isolate their big, and to create some advantages, and he's certainly doing a good job there. But I'm really excited about what our kids did. We're playing six freshmen and we've got; I think the best player in the city. I think we've got the second-best player in the city. Everyone knows about Meg McConnell. People need to know who
Jerni Kiaku is because she's just as good."
THE TRIO
A trio of Dukes finished in double figures tonight, led by
Jerni Kiaku. She posted a team-best 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting (63.6%) from the floor while collecting six rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
Megan McConnell registered her fourth double-double of the season and the 29
th of her career, finishing with 14 points and 11 assists while playing all 40 minutes. McConnell tallied four assists, three steals, and a block while burying four three-pointers in the win.
Gabby Hutcherson was the final Duke in double digits, carding 10 points, two rebounds, two blocks, and one assist. The trio registered 44 of the Dukes 73 points on Wednesday.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Kiandra Browne finished with nine points, five rebounds, and four assists while
Reina Green posted seven points, one board, and one assist. As a team, Duquesne forced Pitt into 14 turnovers while collecting seven steals. The Dukes registered 17 bench points, while holding Pitt to just nine.
UP NEXT
Duquesne returns to action on Sunday, Dec. 8, when it begins a five-game homestand, welcoming Carnegie Mellon inside UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse beginning 2:00 p.m.
