Henrico, Va. – Senior center
Precious Johnson eclipsed 1,000 career points as the Duquesne women's basketball team opened play at the Atlantic 10 Championships on Thursday, routing the No. 13 seed Massachusetts, 81-57 at the Henrico Sports & Events Center. With the win, the Dukes improve to 19-11 overall this season and advance to the third round of the tournament.
POINT OF EMPHASIS
It was a slow start for Duquesne, recording four turnovers and going 0-for-4 from the field in the opening three minutes. The Minuetwomen took an early 8-3 advantage before Duquesne ended the quarter on an 18-2 run over the final six minutes. The Dukes shot 6-of-11 from the field during the run while holding UMass to 0-of-8 shooting. Six different Dukes scored during the stint, led by senior
Precious Johnson (5) and Sophomore
Jerni Kiaku (4). Duquesne held the Minutewomen to just 26.7 percent (4-of-15) from the field in the opening 10 minutes. After trading buckets to begin the second frame, the two teams went scoreless over the next two minutes. UMass (5-27) would respond, mounting a 10-5 burst to trim the Dukes lead to seven (29-22) with 3:53 remaining in the half. Duquesne would rally, scoring 10 of the final 14 points to take a 39-26 advantage into the break.
QUOTABLE
"We're obviously pleased with how we performed for the most part today with outstanding contributions," head coach
Dan Burt said. "Megan had a completely all-around game just filling the stats sheet and I felt like Precious's activity on the glass was exceptional and did a really nice job in the post to score the ball. I'm also excited because this is
Precious Johnson's 1,000 point in this game and we now have six 1,000-point scorers playing on our team right now."
THE ROUT IS ON
It was a back-and-forth affair in the third quarter as UMass shot an impressive 63.6 percent (7-for-11) but the Dukes registered 10 points off six Minutewomen turnovers to hold a 65-40 lead heading to the final quarter. Junior guards
Megan McConnell and
Tess Myers led the charge in the third stanza, with McConnell netting nine points on 4-of-7 shooting from the floor and two steals. Myers registered five points on 2-of-4 shooting, with a triple for the Dukes. After a jumper from UMass, the Dukes rattled off a 10-2 stint to stretch its lead to 21 (70-49) and forced a Massachusetts timeout. Johnson sparked the run with a jumper, followed by a bucket from junior
Megan McConnell. After a pair of free-throws from the Minutewomen, senior
Amaya Hamilton and McConnell buried consecutive triples to cap the run. The Dukes would push its lead to as many as 27 in rout to its second round victory.
WELCOME TO THE 1K CLUB
Coming into today's contest, senior center
Precious Johnson was just eight points shy of the 1,000-point threshold. With her layup at the 2:55 mark in the third quarter, the Sweden native surpassed the milestone and pushed the Dukes lead back to double digits. Johnson became the sixth Duke's to achieve the honor this season as she joins teammates
Amaya Hamilton,
Tess Myers,
Ayanna Townsend,
Megan McConnell, and
Naelle Bernard. She was one of three Dukes in double figures, finishing with 13 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the floor, with eight rebounds (four offensive). The senior center also collected two steals and a rejection during the win. Johnson now has 1,005 points in her five seasons with Duquesne.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Besides Johnson, two other Dukes finished in double digits, led by
Megan McConnell. She finished with her eighth double-double of the season, ending with 21 points and 13 rebounds. She shot 8-of-13 from the floor, including three triples while dishing out six assists and collecting three steals.
Tess Myers registered 11 points off three three-pointers while distributing three assists.
Naelle Bernard,
Amaya Hamilton, and
Jerni Kiaku all recorded eight points while Hamilton tallied eight rebounds and two assists. Kiaku corralled six boards and a pair of steals for the Dukes. As a team, Duquesne led in almost every statistical category. They netted 21 points off 17 UMass turnovers while registering 36 points in the paint. The Dukes dominate the glass, holding a 44-29 advantage while carding a 17-1 advantage in second chance points.
UP NEXT
Duquesne advances to the third round of the A-10 tourney and will battle the No. 4 seed George Mason on Friday, March 8, with the opening tip scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
