Richmond, Va. – A remarkable fourth quarter comeback fell short as the Duquesne women's basketball team dropped a 65-63 decision at VCU on Thursday night during Atlantic 10 action, inside the Stuart C. Siegal Center. With the loss, the Dukes fall to 9-4 overall and 0-2 in league play.
DOWN TO THE WIRE
Trailing 59-44 heading into the final quarter, Duquesne orchestrated its largest comeback of the season. A driving layup by graduate student
Gabby Hutcherson, followed by a steal and layup from freshman
Faith Walker, ignited the surge to start the fourth. After a VCU turnover, Hutcherson sank a jumper, and senior
Megan McConnell hit a pair at the charity stripe to narrow the gap to 59-52 with 8:31 left. On the ensuing possession, freshman
Nadia Moore came up with a steal that led to a layup by classmate
Mackenzie Blackford, forcing a VCU timeout. The Rams managed their first field goal of the quarter at the 7:10 mark, a jumper by Mary-Anna Asare, to push their lead to 61-54. McConnell answered with a driving layup, and senior
Kiandra Browne followed with a pair at the chalk. Walker then notched another steal, setting up junior
Jerni Kiaku for a layup to bring Duquesne within one, 61-60, with 4:34 remaining.
Both teams went scoreless for nearly four minutes before Asare hit one of two free-throws, extending VCU's lead to 62-60 with 44 seconds left. Out of a timeout, Kiaku drilled a clutch three-pointer from the right-wing to give Duquesne a 63-62 edge. However, Asare responded with a running layup to reclaim the lead for VCU. The Rams forced a jump ball on Duquesne's next possession and sealed the game at the free-throw line.
QUOTABLE
"We can't be a fourth quarter team only," head coach
Dan Burt said. "The last two games, we've not attacked and played with the aggressiveness and the attitude in attack mode that we need to be in, and we've held off until the fourth quarter to play like that. And so, we've got to find some combinations that work for us earlier in the game. I really appreciate the efforts, they could have folded as we went into the fourth quarter, and they did the exact opposite. But we must find a way to not be just a fourth quarter team."
POINT OF EMPHASIS
After an opening tip layup from Kiaku, it was a stagnant start for Duquesne early on as the Rams claimed a 10-2 lead with 7:45 remaining in the opening quarter. The two teams would go scoreless over the next two minutes before a driving layup from sophomore
Reina Green and a second chance bucket from McConnell cut the deficit to four, 10-6, heading into the media timeout. Later in the quarter, freshman
Mackenzie Blackford connected on a shot from behind the arc before McConnell drilled a three-pointer to trail 14-12. VCU would take a 15-14 advantage after one. In the second quarter, a long ball from Blackford cut the deficit to two (23-21) before both teams traded the next 12 points. With 3:02 to go, VCU would end the half on a 6-4 stint to take a 35-31 lead into the break.
QUOTABLE
"
Faith Walker gave us really good minutes by putting a lot of pressure on the inbounder with multiple deflections and
Nadia Moore also defended at a very high level," continued Burt. "Were a very young basketball team, and I think that's what people don't realize. Once you get past our first four or five players, we're pretty much just playing freshmen, and this is the first road trip of the year. This isn't like going two hours up to State College or an hour up to Kent, Ohio, it's not like getting on a bus for six hours and playing a conference game. So, we've learned a lot of lessons today, and hopefully we'll be able to put those into play for greater success as we move forward with Fordham on Sunday."
INSIDE THE STAT SHEET
Senior
Megan McConnell paced the Dukes with her second straight and fifth 20-point game of the season, ending with 24 points. She finished 7-of-14 (50.0 percent) from the floor while going 8-of-10 (80.0 percent) from the charity strip and tallied five rebounds, five assists, and two steals.
Jerni Kiaku was the second Duke in double figures, netting 10 points, two rebounds, and a steal.
Mackenzie Blackford posted eight points while
Gabby Hutcherson registered a career-high 10 rebounds to go with four points and three blocks.
Faith Walker played a season-high 16 minutes while collecting two steals as classmate
Nadia Moore registered a pair of takeaways.
NOTES
VCU was led by Mary-Anna Asare, who carded a career-best 37 points on 15-of-36 (57.7 percent) from the floor. She was the only Ram in double figures … Duquesne held the Rams to just 2-of-10 from the field and forced 10 turnovers in the final quarter … Dukes held a 11-2 lead in steals … VCU outrebounded Duquesne 42-30, with 11 offensive rebounds … Duquesne forced 20 turnovers, the eighth time they've forced 20+ miscues
UP NEXT
Duquesne returns to UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse on Sunday, Jan. 5, when it hosts Fordham at 2:00 p.m. for an Atlantic 10 contest.
