Pittsburgh, Pa. – Behind a career day from freshman guard Alexis Bordas, the Duquesne women's basketball team rolled to an 84-69 victory over crosstown rival Pitt in the annual City Game on Sunday afternoon at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. The win snaps a three-game skid and improves the Dukes to 7-5 (.583) overall, while marking their third consecutive triumph over the Panthers—the first time they've done so since 2015-2017.

POINT OF EMPHASIS
Duquesne knocked down three of its first five shots to jump out to a 9-4 lead, all from beyond the arc, before Pitt answered with an 11-2 run to take a 15-11 advantage into the first media timeout. Coming out of the break, the Dukes responded with eight unanswered points, five from Bordas and a triple from sophomore Fatou Sane, to reclaim the lead before Mikayla Johnson's layup tied the game at 19 with 1:48 remaining in the opening quarter. From there, Duquesne seized control. Over the next seven-and-a-half minutes, the Dukes erupted for a decisive 21-4 run to break the game open. A floater from junior Reina Green ignited the surge, followed by back-to-back layups from sophomores Mackenzie Blackford and Harriet Ford, giving Duquesne a 25-19 lead at the end of the first quarter. The momentum carried into the second as freshman Raevin Washington opened the frame with a layup and Bordas buried consecutive triples to push the advantage to 33-19. Amiya Jenkins briefly stopped the run with a layup, but Duquesne answered with baskets from Ford and a deep three from Blackford. After Johnson connected on a pair of free throws for Pitt, sophomore Faith Walker closed the half's scoring with a layup, extending the Dukes' lead to 40-23 with 4:15 remaining. Duquesne continued to control both ends of the floor and took a commanding 49-29 lead into the locker room.

QUOTABLE
"For a team that plays playground basketball, that was a really good win, and I'm proud of our team," head coach Dan Burt said. "I'm proud of our coaching staff. I thought our coaches were incredibly dialed in with the scout throughout the week, and then our players went out, and they executed that scout to a T. You know, we dominated the game. We led for 37 minutes, and just proud of the effort we gave. The City Game is important, and don't let anyone tell you that it's just another game, because it's not, and we're City Champs again."

NO SPACE. NO MERCY
Duquesne continues to pride itself on defense, and Sunday's contest was no different. During the Dukes' decisive 21-4 run in the first half, they gave Pitt (7–7) fits, holding the Panthers to just 1-of-8 from the field while forcing five turnovers in seven minutes. Duquesne extended its dominance in the second quarter, limiting Pitt to 21.4 percent shooting (3-of-14) overall and just 1-of-5 from three-point range. Coming into Sunday, Pitt featured one of the ACC's top three-point shooters in Carla Viegas, who had made 29 triples this season. The Dukes effectively contained her, holding Viegas to eight points on 1-of-3 shooting from beyond the arc. Even in a productive third quarter for Pitt, when the Panthers scored 19 points, 10 coming from the foul line (10-of-12), Duquesne still held them to 4-of-15 shooting (26.7 percent) and 1-of-3 from deep. Overall, Duquesne limited Pitt to its fifth-lowest shooting percentage of the season at 36.2 percent (21-of-58), forced 16 turnovers, and scored 21 points off those miscues, highlighting their suffocating defensive performance.

ALPHA PERFORMANCE
Playing in her first-ever City Game, freshman Alexis Bordas was nothing short of spectacular. She finished with a career-high 38 points on 11-of-22 (50%) shooting from the floor and 10-of-18 (55.6%) from three-point range. Bordas was perfect from the free-throw line, hitting all 6 attempts, while also contributing five rebounds, five assists, and two steals. The freshman dominated the second half, scoring 22 of her 38 points, including 7-of-12 from the floor and an impressive 6-of-9 from beyond the arc. Her performance peaked in the third quarter, where she tallied 14 points, shooting 4-of-5 overall and a flawless 4-of-4 from deep. Bordas' 38 points tie for the sixth-most in program history and tie for the most in the Dan Burt era, surpassing the last 38-point outing by Laia Sole against Saint Francis in 2019. Her 10 three-pointers rank second in program history, and her 18 attempts are the most in the Burt era.

QUOTABLE
"It starts with my teammates and coaches just always telling me to shoot the ball, let it fly, and they have the most confidence in me, which helps me have confidence in myself," Bordas explained. "And then obviously, I mean Mac (Mackenzie Blackford) and I always shooting, and just the preparation gives you confidence itself. It means a lot to hit a record like that, especially in this game. It means a lot to all of us, but I seriously could not have done it without all my teammates and coaches, they were saying to feed the hot hand, and my teammates set me up great. So, it was a complete team effort."

INSIDE THE STAT SHEET
Mackenzie Blackford and Reina Green also finished in double figures, as Blackford ended with 14 points on four three-pointers while collecting three rebounds and dishing out two steals. Green finished with a career-high 11 points while pulling down six rebounds, three assists, and one block. Sophomore Harriet Ford ended with eight points and a team-leading nine rebounds. Duquesne won the rebounding battle 45-37 while collecting 17 offensive rebounds on Sunday. Each team netted 22 points in the paint as Pitt held a 27-14 advantage in second chance points.

UP NEXT
Duquesne will be idle for 10 days during the holiday break before returning to Atlantic 10 action on Wednesday, Dec. 31, when it hosts Saint Louis at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. Tipoff is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.