Henrico, Va. – The Duquesne University women's basketball team fell to top seeded Richmond on Saturday morning, 80-66 in the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament inside the Henrico Sports and Events Center. With the loss, the Dukes conclude its postseason with a 20-12 overall mark.
POINT OF EMPHASIS
It was an up-and-down pace in the opening five minutes as the two squads traded the first 16 points of the contest. Duquesne had four different players register a bucket as both teams combined just 7-of-21 during the span. Richmond would respond by ending the quarter on an 8-4 stint and lead 16-12 after the opening stanza. In the second quarter, both teams continued to trade baskets as they swapped the first 14 points. After a pair of free-throws from the Spiders pushed their lead to eight, the Dukes netted six consecutive points to trim the deficit to two (27-25). Senior
Precious Johnson started the run with a layup before sophomore
Jerni Kiaku recorded back-to-back layups to trim the gap. Richmond wouldn't shy away, putting together an 8-0 stint over a two-minute span before taking a 37-27 lead into the break.
QUOTABLE
"I'm incredibly proud of our team today, they played with great energy, fighting spirit, and grit," head coach
Dan Burt said. "We lost to a very well coached basketball team and we're playing our third game in three days, we just ran out of gas at the end and Richmond did some things that affected us. I just want to say that I am incredibly proud of our entire program, not just the senior class, but all of our players, staff, and our student managers."
TRYING TO FIND A RHYTHM
It was a stagnant start to the second half for both teams as they combined 3-of-8 shooting the floor, with four combined turnovers in the opening three minutes. Later in the quarter, junior
Megan McConnell would cut the deficit to single digits (43-34) with a triple before Richmond (28/5) strung together a 7-2 spurt to push its lead up to 14. Duquesne would make a late run to end the quarter, scoring five of the final eight points to trail 53-41 heading to the final 10 minutes. After a layup by senior
Amaya Hamilton began the fourth quarter, the Spiders scored eight straight points to grab its largest lead of the afternoon, 61-43 with 6:43 remaining. The Dukes would look to make its run but Richmond continued to answer late down the stretch.
TRIO OF PRODUCTION
Three Dukes finished in double figures on Saturday, led by
Ayanna Townsend. She finished 6-of-8 shooting from the floor while collecting seven rebounds, one block, and one steal. Townsend netted nine of her 13 points in the second half, where she was a perfect 4-of-4 from the field.
Amaya Hamilton registered 12 points while totaling five rebounds and three assists. Hamilton recorded 10 of her 12 in the second half alone.
Tess Myers was the final Dukes in double digits, tallying 10 points with a pair of triples while collecting four rebounds and a block.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Megan McConnell posted eight points, four assists, and three steals while
Jerni Kiaku netted six points, six rebounds, two assists, and two steals off the bench. Richmond featured five players in double figures, led by the Defensive Player of the Year, Addie Budnik. She finished with a game-high 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the floor, including 6-of-9 from long range. As a team, Duquesne held a slight edge in points in the paint (42-40) while Richmond scored 22 points off 15 Duke turnovers. Duquesne held an 8-13 advantage in bench points while the Spiders held a 10-4 lead in fastbreak points.
UP NEXT
Duquesne will wait for selection Sunday on March 17 to see where it competes next. More information will be released at a later date.
