Pittsburgh, Pa – The Duquesne women's basketball concluded its two-game homestand, dropping a 72-52 decision to Massachusetts on Wednesday night during Atlantic 10 play inside the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. With the loss, the Dukes slipped to 15-9 overall and 6-7 its conference action.
POINT OF EMPHASIS
Trailing 59-33 heading into the final quarter, Duquesne mounted a 13-3 run to cut into the deficit. Junior
Andjela Matic ignited the surge with a three-pointer, followed by another from graduate student
Gabby Hutcherson. After UMass' Allie Palieri answered with a triple of her own, senior
Megan McConnell drained Duquesne's third consecutive three-pointer. A defensive stop set up McConnell at the free-throw line, where she sank two, followed by another pair from Matic to cap the run at 62-46. However, that was as close as the Dukes would get, as the Minutewomen responded with nine of the next 12 points to secure the victory.
QUOTABLE
"Our effort was embarrassing in the first two quarters," head coach
Dan Burt said. "When you look at the four quarters vs. Richmond and the two quarters to start this game, it's some of the poorest basketball I've been associated with in my 18 years at Duquesne and that all falls on me. I'm really disappointed. I think youth is never to blame, because we're in February and freshmen can't be freshmen today, though, it was one of those days where you saw youth being exposed, and our lack of size is something that UMass exposed. And if you don't have size, you better have a whole lot of fight and grit. Our practices the last two days have not been there. We're at a tipping point, and that tipping point is, what do these players want their season to be? Are we going to be distracted? Or are we going to be focused? And we'll answer that tomorrow when we go to practice, and we'll see what that's like, because the last two days haven't been very good either."
SHOOTING STRUGGLES
Shooting struggles defined the first half for Duquesne, as the Dukes managed just 22.2 percent (6-of-27) from the field. UMass opened the game with nine unanswered points and extended its lead to 15-5 with 3:22 remaining in the first quarter, eventually taking a commanding 19-5 advantage into the second. The teams traded the first 14 points of the second quarter before a steal and layup by senior
Megan McConnell, followed by a three-pointer from freshman
Mackenzie Blackford, trimmed the deficit to 28-14 with 4:54 left in the half. However, the Minutewomen responded with a 14-2 run to close the half, heading into the break with a 42-16 lead. Duquesne finished with a season-low 29.1 percent (16-of-55) shooting from the floor, including just 8-of-37 (.216) from beyond the arc.
INSIDE THE STAT SHEET
Megan McConnell and
Andjela Matic paced the Dukes with 15 points each while McConnell tallied seven steals, five assists, and three rebounds. The senior guard made history tonight, becoming just the second player in Duquesne history to surpass 1,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds. McConnell also moved into fifth place in program history in scoring, netting 1,612 career points. Matic finished 4-of-7 from the field, all from behind the three-point line while carding six rebounds and two assists. As a team, Duquesne caused 20 turnovers whole collecting 10 steals on Wednesday.
NOTES
UMass had for players finish in double figures, led by Megan Olbrys, with a game-high 20 points, nine rebounds, and four assists. Allie Palmieri netted 16 points while Stefanie Kulesza finished with an impressive 22 rebounds and 14 points. … Yahmani McKayle was the fourth Minutewomen with 13 points and five rebounds … UMass shot .456 percent (26-of-57) from the field while scoring 42 points in the paint.
UP NEXT
Duquesne hits the road for a pair of road contests, traveling to Loyola Chicago on Saturday, Feb. 15, with the opening tip scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
