Amherst, Mass. – Juniors
Megan McConnell and
Naelle Bernard surpassed the 1,000-point milestone en rout to a 79-62 victory at Massachusetts on Wednesday night, inside the Mullins Center during league action. With the win, the Duquesne women's basketball team improves to 14-9 overall, behind a 9-3 mark in conference play. The nine A-10 wins ties the most since the 2019-20 campaign.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Massachusetts (3-21, 1-11 A-10) jumped out to an early 10-4 lead in the opening three minutes before Duquesne put together a 12-0 stint to grab its first lead of the night, 16-10. Bernard sparked the run with a driving layup before consecutive triples from freshman
Gabby Grantham-Medley and Bernard continued the stint. Junior
Megan McConnell would register a bucket before Bernard capped the spurt with another layup. The Minutewomen responded by scoring eight straight points to regain the lead, 18-16 with 1:22 remaining in the opening stanza. McConnell would connect on a long ball to knot the score at 21-all after one. In the second quarter, the Dukes continued its run, netting a 9-1 spurt to hold a 30-22 advantage. McConnell netted another triple, followed by four consecutive points from senior
Ayanna Townsend. Senior
Precious Johnson capped the stint with a layup, forcing a UMass timeout. Later in the quarter, Duquesne ended the half by scoring the final seven points, four coming from Grantham-Medley and three from Bernard as the Dukes led 39-28 at the break.
THE ROUTE CONTINUES
The Dukes kept their foot on the gas on both ends of the floor, holding the Minutewomen to just 29.4 percent (5-for-17) in the third quarter while shooting 72.7 percent (8-of-11) from the field. Later in the third frame, Duquesne mounted an 8-0 run, thanks to a pair of triples from Bernard and McConnell, followed by a jumper from Bernard, 49-32. The Dukes continued to give UMass problems, holding them to 1-of-7 from the field over the final five minutes. The Minutewomen scored the first five points of the final frame before redshirt senior
Lauren Wasylson connected on a pair of long balls, which gave the Dukes its biggest lead of the contest, 70-51. Duquesne would continue to cruise in the fourth quarter, shooting over 46.0 percent from the field.
QUOTABLE
"I told our players that this is probably the best three-win team I've seen in my 27 years at division one," head coach
Dan Burt said. "I think they are very well coached and they continue to play hard and come at you. We were fortunate tonight to play pretty well and have really good contributions from our bench."
TWO MORE TO THE 1K CLUB
For the second time this season, the Dukes have had two players surpass the 1,000-point plateau in the same game. Juniors
Megan McConnell and
Naelle Bernard concurred that feature tonight. With her triple to end the first quarter, McConnell was the first to eclipse the milestone. She finished just shy of another triple-double, with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting, three treys, nine rebounds, and seven assists while collecting a steal. The Pittsburgh native has registered over 288 points this season and now has 1,010 for her career. Bernard surpassed the milestone at the 7:11 mark in the third quarter, when she buried a left-wing triple. She paced the team with 15 points, on 6-of-9 shooting, while collecting a season-high six boards and dishing out four assists. The Paris native has recorded over 513 points in her two seasons with the Dukes while posting 489 points at Salt Lake Community College. She now as 1,002 points for her collegiate career. The duo joins teammates
Amaya Hamilton,
Tess Myers, and
Ayanna Townsend as they surpassed the mark earlier this season.
QUOTABLE
"We're really excited for people to get their personal accolades and milestones," Burt continued. "Both of them are gym rats who love basketball and both will be professional basketball players when they're done. But what they mean to me personally and into our program is immeasurable. They're great young women and they believed in us and believed in our program."
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Duquesne got a nice lift from its bench, netting 37 points during the win.
Gabby Grantham-Medley chipped in 11 points and three rebounds while
Lauren Wasylson netted nine points on three triples.
Tess Myers,
Jerni Kiaku, and
Precious Johnson all registered six points each while all collecting a pair of rebounds. The Dukes registered 24 points in the paint while tallying 14 fast break points, 10 of them coming in the second stanza. Duquesne recorded 21 assists on 28 field goals made while outrebounding UMass 36-28.
UP NEXT
Duquesne returns back home when it hosts La Salle for the Pink Out Game, on Saturday, Feb. 10, inside UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, beginning at 2:00 p.m.
