Henrico, Va. – With a defensive stop in the final seconds, the Dukes captured a 63-62 victory over the No. 4 seed George Mason on Friday afternoon inside the Henrico Sports & Events Center. With the win, the Duquesne women's basketball team improves to 20-11 overall while earning a spot in the Final Four. The Dukes secure 20 wins for the first time since the 2019-20 campaign.

THE STOP
With 39 seconds remaining, Sonia Smith went 1-of-2 at the line for the Patriots to trim the Dukes lead, 63-62. Out of a Duquesne timeout, sophomore Jerni Kiaku corralled her own missed layup and gave the Dukes the ball with eight seconds remaining. Duquesne would turn it over on the following possession as George Mason called a 30 second timeout to advance the ball. After a couple fouls from Duquesne, the Patriots had 1.2 seconds left with the ball on the baseline. George Mason threw a lob pass to Zahirha Walton in the middle of the paint where her game-winning layup fell short as it was contested by Kiaku and junior Tess Myers.

RED HOT START
Duquesne opened the contest clicking on all cylinders, hitting seven of its first 10 shots and grabbing an 18-4 lead with 4:30 remaining in the opening quarter. Junior Naelle Bernard paced the run with six points while senior Amaya Hamilton chipped in four. The Dukes were 4-of-6 from behind the arc in the opening five minutes. George Mason would respond, netting an 8-0 run to cut the deficit, 18-12 before the Dukes took a 21-15 advantage after the first quarter. Duquesne shot an impressive 53.3 percent (8-of-15) from the floor while shooting 5-of-8 (62.5 percent) from long range in the opening 10 minutes. It was a slow start to begin the second quarter before Myers and Hamilton buried consecutive triples to stretch the Dukes lead, 27-15. Later in the quarter, George Mason would put together a 7-0 stint before both teams went scoreless for the final 2:26. Duquesne would hold a 34-28 advantage heading into the break.

QUOTABLE
"That's March Madness," head coach Dan Burt said. "Obviously I'm very very happy with our team's composure and maturity today. George Mason is a very well coached team and they play incredibly hard. We knew that they were going to make their run and challenge us but we burned the ships."

BEND BUT DON'T BREAK
Entering the fourth quarter, the Dukes held a 51-50 advantage before Kiaku scored six of Duquesne's next eight points to give them a 59-56 advantage, with 4:10 remaining. The Patriots responded by netting five straight points to grab a two-point lead before Kiaku connected on a pair from the chalk, to knot the score at 61-all. After a missed jumper by Sonia Smith, junior guard Megan McConnell found Johnson, which ended up being the game-winning layup. Duquesne shot over 45.5 percent (5-of-11) from the floor in the final frame while holding George Mason to just 35.7 percent (5-of-14). Kiaku was the x factor for the Dukes in the final quarter, recording eight of her 10 points in the fourth quarter on 3-of-5 shooting from the floor. The sophomore guard collected a team-high three steals, all coming in the final 10 minutes while going 4-of-4 from the charity stripe.

QUOTABLE
"I thought Jerni in the third and fourth quarter was outstanding," Burt continued. "We call her Jerni the Jet because I don't know if there's a faster player in the A-10. She is incredibly fast and if you get her into the open floor, it's very difficult to stop her. She has really grown each game of the season and it's showing in the biggest moments.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Junior Tess Myers paced the Dukes with 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting from long range. She collected four rebounds while dishing out two assists. Precious Johnson registered 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the floor while tallying six rebounds and one block. Senior Amaya Hamilton recorded nine points, five rebounds, and a team-leading four blocks while Megan McConnell netted eight points, 10 rebounds, and six assists in the victory. Duquesne's bench gave them a massive spark in the win, outscoring George Mason 23-7, thanks to Johnson (11) and Kiaku (10).

UP NEXT
Duquesne advances to the Final Four of the Atlantic 10 Championships for the first time since the 2018-19 season, where it battles top seeded Richmond on Saturday, March 9, with the opening tip scheduled 11:00 a.m.