Pittsburgh, Pa. – The Duquesne women's basketball team wrapped up its regular season on Saturday, dropping a 77-73 decision to Saint Joseph's inside UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse while celebrating senior day. With the loss, the Dukes end the regular season with an 18-11 overall record and a 13-5 mark in league action.
POINT OF EMPHASIS
It was a back-and-forth affair to begin the contest as each team continued to trade buckets before the Hawks took a 13-11 lead into the first media timeout, with 3:06 remaining in the opening stanza. Saint Joseph's stretched its lead to 18-12 before sophomore guard
Jerni Kiaku went coast to coast as time expired to trim the Hawks advantage at the end of quarter one, 18-14. It was a hot start for the Dukes in the second quarter, stringing together an 11-6 spurt in the opening three minutes to grab a 25-24 lead. Senior Ayanna Townend sparked the run with a layup before redshirt senior
Lauren Wasylson buried a triple for Duquesne. Junior
Megan McConnell converted consecutive driving layups before Townsend tallied another bucket. The Hawks didn't shy away, responding with a 7-0 stint to take a 31-25 advantage, with 4:29 remaining in the half.
Duquesne responded in a big way, ending the half on a 10-2 burst to give them a 35-33 halftime lead. Townsend started the run with a layup as Wasylson connected on her second long ball of the quarter. McConnell continued the run with a three-pointer before capping the stint with a layup. The Dukes held Saint Joseph's to just 1-of-7 from the field in the final 3:24 while shooting an impressive 60.0 percent (9-for-15) for the quarter. McConnell, Townsend, and Wasylson combined for all 21 points in the second frame.
THIRD QUARTER STRUGGLE
It was a promising start for the Dukes to begin the second half, netting six of the first 10 points and holding a 41-37 lead with 7:28 remaining. But the Hawks responded with a 19-4 run over a five-and-a-half-minute span to take a 56-45 advantage, with under a minute remaining in the third quarter. Saint Joseph's shot a stunning 88.8 percent (8-of-9) from the field, with a pair of triples during that time frame. In the final 10 minutes, the Hawks expanded its lead to as many as 16 (69-53) with 5:27 left in regulation. Duquesne would make one last run, stringing together an 18-7 stint that would trim Saint Joseph's lead to five but that's as close as they could get.
QUOTABLE
"I'm incredibly disappointed because our kids played incredibly hard," head coach
Dan Burt said. "Saint Joe's is a very good basketball team that is very well coached. I think the world of #4 Ziegler and #21 smith, they're great basketball players and they answered the call today by combining for 51 points. We did everything we could to stop them and it didn't work. Yes, we've lost two in a row but we need to understand we just played the best two teams in the league and just came up a bit short. We have to put this aside and understand that the new season begins on Monday."
BALANCED WORK
Five Dukes finished in double figures this evening, led by
Ayanna Townsend and
Megan McConnell. Townsend tied a season-high with 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting (50.0 percent) while collecting seven rebounds. She also finished 4-for-5 at the charity stripe. McConnell posted 18 points on 8-of-15 shooting (53.3 percent) while also totaling seven rebounds and dishing out dive assists. She netted 14 of her 18 in the first half, shooting 6-for-10, with a pair of triples. Lauren Wasyslon finished with a season-high 12 points, all coming from three-pointers where she was 4-of-7 from long range. She collected three rebounds and a steal while
Precious Johnson and
Jerni Kiaku each tallied 11 points. Johnson tied for the team lead with seven rebounds and three assists while Kiaku collected a pair of steals. The five combined for 70 of the Dukes 73 points this afternoon.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Saint Joseph's featured a pair of players that combined for 51 of their 77 points. Lauren Ziegler finished with a game-high 27 points on 5-of-6 from long range while Mackenzie Smith ended with 24 points and four triples to lead the Hawks. Duquesne held a 30-28 edge in points in the paint while netting 14 points off nine Hawk turnovers. Saint Joseph's shot 52.4 percent (11-of-24) from behind the arc while the Dukes shot 7-of-24 (29.2 percent).
UP NEXT
Duquesne will now head to Henrico, Va., to take part in the Atlantic 10 Championships as they were tabbed the No. 5 seed in the tournament. The Dukes received a bye in the first round and will play the winner of No. 12 La Salle and No. 13 UMass on Thursday, March 7
th at 1:30 p.m.
