Pittsburgh, Pa. – The Duquesne women's basketball team continued its non-conference slate Wednesday night, grinding out a 72-67 victory over Marist inside UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. With the win, the Dukes improved to 2-1 (.667) overall on the season.
POINT OF EMPHASIS
With just over five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Chloe Escanillas drained a three-pointer to even the score at 58-58. Duquesne responded with seven consecutive points to build a 65-58 advantage with 2:29 remaining in regulation. Senior
Carla Viegas sparked the run with a triple before redshirt sophomore
Nadia Moore added a layup and a pair of free-throws. Escanillas answered with another three-pointer for the Red Foxes before sophomore
Raevin Washington converted a driving layup and Madison Ohm knocked down a jumper to trim the deficit to 67-63 with 1:45 to play. Moore followed with a pair at the chalk to extend the Dukes' lead to six. Marist continued to battle, as Kasey Bretones split a pair of free throws before teammate Justine Henry grabbed the offensive rebound and converted a traditional three-point play to pull the Red Foxes within two at 69-67 with 12 seconds remaining. Moore responded on the ensuing possession, completing a three-point play of her own to push Duquesne's advantage to 72-67. Redshirt junior
Gabby Grantham-Medley then came up with a steal on Marist's final possession to seal the victory for the Dukes.
QUOTABLE
"You know we weren't great with knowing the scout, and so again we're going to learn a lot from this game tape," head coach
Dan Burt said. "I would agree with that it was a game that felt like an Atlantic 10 February game, and we've got a lot of new people that don't understand or know what that is yet. Another thing is we're about to hit a part of our schedule that is going to be very difficult. Going to Kent State on Saturday, and then coming around and playing the county game on Monday against Robert Morris. We have got two games here coming up in a very short period. So, this tape will be excellent for us to correct errors, and I trust that the players who are all in, we'll do that."
A LITTLE MOORE MAGIC
Trailing 11-8 in the opening quarter, Marist closed the period with a 10-2 run before Moore connected on a jumper to even the score at 15-15 heading into the second quarter. After Kasey Bretones knotted things at 18-18, the Dukes held the Red Foxes scoreless for the next four minutes, limiting them to just 1-of-9 shooting from the field. Washington paced an 8-2 run during the stretch to give Duquesne a 26-20 advantage. Both teams combined to shoot 6-of-8 from the field over the final 2:30 of the first half, with the Dukes carrying a 33-28 lead into the break. Moore accounted for the final seven points of the half, converting all three of her field-goal attempts during the stretch. She poured in 16 of her career-high 33 points over the opening 20 minutes before continuing her offensive dominance in the second half. Moore was particularly effective in the fourth quarter, scoring 15 of Duquesne's 22 points. The redshirt sophomore led all scorers, finishing 11-of-16 (68.8 percent) from the field, 4-of-7 (57.1 percent) from beyond the arc and a perfect 7-of-7 from the free-throw line. She also added five rebounds, four assists and a steal. The 33-point performance marked the first 30-point outing of her career and her third consecutive game reaching double figures.
QUOTABLE
"I loved how our kids responded when one our best scorers, Carla (Viegas) couldn't get unraveled by the really good defensive by Marist, and we knew this was coming," Burt continued. "Really excited that
Nadia Moore is shaping up into the form that we know that she's going to be, and that's being a very complete player on both ends of the floor. Having the toughest assignment tonight in terms of guarding, and then scoring 33 points and only having one turnover with four assists. She was simply outstanding tonight, and this is a good early season win. With this game, we'll be able to watch a lot of this tape and learn and grow from it."
THE NUMBERS GAME
Raevin Washington was the other Duke to finish in double figures, contributing 10 points on 50.0 percent (5-of-10) shooting from the field while grabbing a team-high eight rebounds. Freshman
Ayala Oren added eight points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals, while
Gabby Grantham-Medley chipped in six points, five rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals. Juniors
Maja Rohkohl and
De'Naya Rippey each pulled down four rebounds, with Rippey recording multiple steals for the second consecutive game. As a team, Duquesne shot an efficient 43.5 percent (27-of-62) from the field and knocked down 12-of-13 (92.3 percent) attempts from the free-throw line. The Dukes were particularly sharp at the charity stripe down the stretch, converting 8-of-9 attempts in the second half, including a perfect 5-of-5 in the fourth quarter.
NOTES
Duquesne held a 36-35 edge in the rebounds battle … The Dukes scored 22 points off 20 Marist turnovers … Duquesne held a 28-10 advantage in points in the paint … Marist erased a 10 point deficit as it trailed 38-28 with 7:38 to go in the third quarter … The Red Foxes featured two in double figures, led by Justine Henry with 19 points and 12 rebounds while collecting a pair of steals … Chloe Escanillas contributed 12 points off the bench, including four triples … Marist held a 32-19 advantage in points off the bench … Duquesne led for 30:57
UP NEXT
Duquesne hits the road Saturday, Nov. 14, traveling to Kent, Ohio, for a matchup with the Golden Flashes, tipoff is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
