Philadelphia, Pa. – The Duquesne women's basketball team traveled to Philadelphia on Wednesday morning, securing a 67-57 victory at La Salle inside John Glaser Arena during Atlantic 10 action. With the win, the Dukes improved to 13-6 overall and 4-4 in league action.
POINT OF EMPHASIS
It was a stagnant start for both squads as the two teams combined for 7-of-28 in the opening five minutes. Duquesne edged ahead, taking an 8-6 lead into the media timeout before using a 6-2 run to extend its advantage to 14-8. Sophomore
Reina Green sparked the run with a driving layup, followed by a turnaround jumper from graduate student
Gabby Hutcherson. After La Salle responded with a basket, senior
Megan McConnell found the bottom of the net with 1:23 remaining in the first quarter. The Explorers closed the quarter scoring six of the final nine points, but Duquesne held a 17-14 lead after one. La Salle opened the second quarter on an 11-4 run, grabbing a 25-21 lead with 4:43 left in the half. Junior
Jerni Kiaku ended the drought for the Dukes with a three-point play, igniting a 10-3 surge. Freshman
Faith Walker contributed with a three-pointer and a pair of free-throws, while Hutcherson capped the run with two more points from the charity stripe. Later in the quarter, Hutcherson added another basket and McConnell gave the Dukes a 38-32 advantage at the break.
QUOTABLE
Well, it's certainly not a clean victory for us any time you play at La Salle," head coach
Dan Burt said. "You know that Mountain is going to come up with some kind of "mountain magic" and throw something at you, and we tried to throw it at them by trapping all over the floor early, and we learned a lot about ourselves today. I don't think we played a great basketball game. Didn't coach a great basketball game in my myself, but we still found a way to win by double figures on the road."
PUT THE CLAMPS ON
Defensively, Duquesne wreaked havoc for the Explorers in the third quarter, holding them to just 2-of-15 (13.3 percent) from the floor, including 0-of-7 from the field in the first five minutes. Over a nine-minute stretch spanning from the 1:23 mark of the second quarter to the 2:23 mark of the third, the Explorers managed just 6.25 percent shooting (1-of-16) from the field. The Dukes forced double-digit turnovers (26) for the 19th consecutive game, marking their 12th outing with 20 or more opponent miscues. They also recorded 10 or more takeaways for the 12th time this season, finishing with 12. Duquesne opened the second half on fire, knocking down three straight three-pointers—two from McConnell and one from freshman
Mackenzie Blackford—pushing the lead to 61-43. The Dukes maintained their momentum with a 10-4 run led by Blackford and junior
Jerni Kiaku, ultimately carrying a 52-38 advantage into the final quarter.
BALANCED EFFORT
For the second time this season, Duquesne had five players finish in double figures
Megan McConnell paced the Dukes with 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting (57.1 percent) from the field. She connected on a pair of triples while dishing out four assists and tallying three steals.
Mackenzie Blackford netted 12 points, all coming from behind the arc while carding two rebounds, one assist, and one steal.
Jerni Kiaku finished with 11 points, three rebounds, three assists, and two steals while going 5-of-7 from the charity stripe.
Gabby Hutcherson and
Faith Walker each registered 10 points while Hutcherson totaled eight rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Walker recorded a season-best in points to go along with a career-best five rebounds, one steal, and one block while going 2-of-2 from behind the arc.
QUOTABLE
For Faith, it's a situation that her stats popped today with the 10 points and five rebounds, but she's a very good defender," Burt continued. "She's very good at cutting and doing things that don't show up in the box score, and so she's finding more and more time for those reasons. She has very high basketball IQ, you know, both her and Gabby Hutchison today were really important to our success, and really happy with both of them."
NOTES
La Salle (7-14 | 1-7 A-10) finished with three Explorers in double figures, led by Ashleigh Connor. She ended with 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the floor with four assists. … Joan Quinn totaled 13 points and 12 rebounds while Mackenzie Daleba finished with a double-double, 11 points and 18 rebounds … Duquesne held a 32-11 lead in bench points while scoring 21 points of turnovers … La Salle held a 58-38 advantage on the glass … Duquesne held the Explorers to 33.8 percent from the field and 17.4 percent from behind the arc
UP NEXT
Duquesne is idle for a week before returning to action on Thursday, Jan. 30 where it will host VCU for its second nationally televised game this season, streamed on Peacock at 8:00 p.m. inside UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.
