Pittsburgh, Pa. – La Salle shot just under 50.0 percent (14-of-29) from the field and 53.3 percent (8-of-15) from behind the arc in the second half, to earn a 77-61 victory over the Duquesne women's basketball team on Saturday afternoon, inside the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. With the loss, the Dukes dropped to 7-15 (.318) overall and 0-11 in conference action.

POINT OF EMPHASIS
Duquesne trailed 25-21 at halftime before opening the second half with an 8-5 run to cut the deficit to 30-29 after sophomore Mackenzie Blackford drilled a three-pointer with 7:42 remaining. Over the next three minutes, La Salle responded with a 13-5 burst, fueled by nine points from Joan Quinn, who connected on three consecutive triples to extend the Explorers' lead to 43-34. Later in the quarter, Blackford knocked down back-to-back long balls to trim the deficit to three, but La Salle carried a 45-40 advantage into the final frame. The Explorers maintained their momentum to start the fourth, opening on a 10-3 run to push the advantage to double figures at 55-43. Freshman Alexis Bordas briefly halted the run with a pair of free throws, but La Salle answered with an 11-5 surge to extend its cushion to 66-51. Bordas later hit a triple and sophomore Harriet Ford added a layup, but that was as close as the Dukes would get.

QUOTABLE
"There was a lot today that is a microcosm of our season," head coach Dan Burt said. "We miss a layup, we don't get the rebound, they go out in transition, we don't identify a three-point shooter, and they make a three. And we don't identify number zero, who's their best player. She's an alpha, she's a tough kid, and our close out is short, and our hands are down, and she shoots a three in our eye. That's kind of a microcosm of our season. A lot of game slippage from practice and a lot of low basketball IQ plays. We have not lived up to our expectations of what is Duquesne women's basketball. So we're going into a bye week, and we'll be doing a lot of thinking and trying to recalibrate this."

THE TRIO
A trio of Dukes finished in double figures on Saturday, led by Alexis Bordas. Bordas recorded her sixth 20-point performance of the season, pouring in 22 points to go along with three rebounds, two assists, and two steals. She knocked down five three-pointers and scored 14 of her 22 points in the second half. Bordas has now posted 18 double-figure outings this season and led the Dukes in scoring for the 11th time. Mackenzie Blackford followed with 16 points, all coming in the second half, while shooting 54.5 percent (6-of-11) from the field and 57.1 percent (4-of-7) from beyond the arc. She also added two rebounds and a steal. The performance marked Blackford's seventh double-figure game of the season and her fifth contest with three or more made three-pointers. Harriet Ford rounded out the trio with her fifth double-double of the season, finishing with 10 points and 10 rebounds. She shot 55.6 percent (5-of-9) from the floor and dished out two assists. Ford recorded her eighth double-figure scoring effort and her eighth game with double-digit rebounds.

NOTES
Reina Green ended with nine points and seven rebounds … La Salle featured four players in double figures, led by Ashleigh Connor, who finished with a game-high 26 points on 7-of-13 shooting and an impressive 11-of-11 from the charity stripe … Aryss Macktoon finished with 23 points on 8-of-13 from the field, with a pair of triples and seven rebounds … Joan Quinn finished with 12 points and four triples while Ivona Miljanic rounded out the four with 10 points and three threes …  The four combined for 71 of the Explorers 77 points … La Salle won the rebounding battle 41-37 … The Explorers netted 18 points off 16 Duquesne turnovers while holding a 20-16 edge in points in the paint

UP NEXT
Duquesne is idle for a week before hitting the road to St. Bonaventure on Saturday, Feb. 7, for an Atlantic 10 matchup beginning at 1:00 p.m.