Pittsburgh, Pa. – Despite a slow-paced contest, the Duquesne women's basketball team extended its winning streak to three straight after capturing a 57-52 victory over La Salle on Saturday afternoon, inside UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. With the win, the Dukes improve to 15-9 overall and hold a 10-3 mark in A-10 action.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
It was a hot start for Duquesne as it jumped out to an early 11-5 lead after hitting five of its first seven shots to begin the game. Junior Naelle Bernard paced the way with five points while senior Ayanna Townsend chipped in four. La Salle (7-16, 4-9 A-10) would respond by ending the quarter on a 9-2 stint to take a 14-13 lead after the opening stanza. Neither team would shoot the ball well in the second quarter, with each squad connecting on just three field goals. The Dukes opened the frame by scoring six straight points before both teams combined for seven points over the next three and a half minutes. The Dukes and Explorers traded the final 10 points of the quarter, with Duquesne holding a 28-22 advantage at the break. The Dukes scored eight of its 15 points in the quarter from the charity stripe (8-of-10).

SLOW PLAY CONTINUES
In the second half, both squads continued to struggle shooting it from the floor as they combined 5-of-14 in the opening four minutes. Duquesne stretched its lead to 38-29 and forced a La Salle timeout with 5:12 remaining, thanks to a pair of threes from Bernard and redshirt senior Lauren Wasylson. After going scoreless for over two and half minutes, the Explorers would trim the Dukes advantage and trailed 41-33 after three. A layup from senior Precious Johnson started the fourth quarter before another triple from Wasylson secured the largest lead for the Dukes on the afternoon (46-33). La Salle would score eight of the next 12 points, thanks to a pair of triples, to cut the lead to single digits. A free-throw from junior Megan McConnell would push the lead back to 10, 51-41, before the Explorers put together a 9-4 stint to trim the deficit (55-50) with 2:31 remaining. A layup from Nicole Melious would cut the Dukes lead to three with 34 second remaining, before McConnell buried a pair at the charity stripe to secure the win.

QUOTABLE
"It was a close game but we led for 37 minutes today, "head coach Dan Burt said. "I told our team early, a six-point lead is not safe, a nine-point lead is not safe and we wanted to get it up to 12 or 15 and were unable to do that. Some of it was our own doing. I thought we took good shots but some of those shots didn't fall today. I thought our two post players, Ayanna Townsend and Precious Johnson, played very well, combining 8-of-13 from the field. You can't ask for much more from your posts. But we didn't shoot exceptionally well when we had open shots but we were able to find a way to come away with a win and do it where we were able to control the game for 37 minutes."

BENCH PRESENCE
The Dukes registered 25 points from their bench this afternoon, 15 coming from Precious Johnson. She recorded her third double-double of the season and ninth of her career while collecting 12 rebounds, five on the offensive. Johnson finished 5-of-9 from the field and 5-for-6 from the charity stripe while tallying a pair of blocks. Lauren Wasylson ended with eight points, on 3-of-6 shooting including a pair of threes. She collected three boards and three assists in 20 minutes of action.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Naelle Bernard finished with 13 points and three triples while dishing out a pair of assists. Megan McConnell fell shy of a double-double with 11 rebounds and nine points. She distributed a pair of assists while collecting a pair of steals and finished 6-of-8 from the free-throw line. Ayanna Townsend ended with six points while Amaya Hamilton and Tess Myers finished with four boards and three assists each. Despite the slow pace, the Dukes assisted on 17 of its 19 field goals while scoring 15 points off 10 La Salle turnovers.

UP NEXT
The Dukes hit the road for a pair of conference matches, traveling to Olean. N.Y., to battle St. Bonaventure on Wednesday, Feb. 14, beginning at 7:00 p.m.