Knoxville, Tenn. – The Duquesne women's basketball team opened its 2026-27 campaign on the road Monday night, falling 109-62 to Tennessee inside Food City Center. With the loss, the Dukes move to 0-1 on the season.
POINT OF EMPHASIS
After missing its opening shot, Tennessee jumped out to an early 14-4 lead, connecting on six of its first 10 attempts from the field. The Lady Volunteers extended their advantage to 16-4 before the Dukes responded with a 13-3 run, shooting a perfect 5-of-5 from the floor. Redshirt sophomore
Nadia Moore sparked the surge with a jumper before redshirt junior
Gabby Grantham-Medley and senior
Carla Viegas knocked down back-to-back triples. Following a Tennessee three-pointer from Kaylene Smikle, Grantham-Medley answered with another shot from beyond the arc before Moore capped the run with a fastbreak layup, cutting the deficit to 19-17 with 2:46 remaining in the opening quarter. Moore later converted a three-point play to pull Duquesne within two at 22-20, but Tennessee carried a 30-24 advantage into the second quarter. The Lady Volunteers regained control early in the second period, opening with a 10-1 run to stretch their lead to 40-25 as the Dukes went without a field goal for the first four minutes. Viegas ended the drought with a long ball before connecting from long range again with 1:21 remaining in the half. Duquesne headed into the locker room trailing 51-33.
DUO SETS THE PACE
A pair of Dukes led the offensive charge Monday night, with
Carla Viegas and
Nadia Moore pacing the way. Viegas turned in her second career 20-point performance, pouring in a team-high 24 points behind seven three-pointers. Her seven triples are tied for the sixth-most in a single game in program history. She also went 3-of-4 from the free-throw line while adding four rebounds and a steal. The Spain native scored 13 of her 24 points in the first half, including four three-pointers in the second quarter. Meanwhile, Moore made her return to the court after missing the previous season due to injury, finishing with 16 points on 7-of-14 shooting (50.0 percent) from the field while pulling down a pair of rebounds. The performance marked the ninth double-figure scoring outing of her career. Moore was particularly efficient in the opening half, connecting on 4-of-7 attempts from the floor over the first 20 minutes.
QUOTABLE
"I really appreciate the opportunity to come to Knoxville and play in one of the very best environments in women's college basketball. I think Tennessee has the best fan base in the sport," head coach
Dan Burt said. "Obviously, tonight's experience was a tough one, but we've been treated very well. I think the world of Kim, and she has a very good basketball team. I'm familiar with the system they run, and it's an excellent system. She's got them playing very well early in the season. We felt like we had a pretty good game plan, and we've got good players, but they're just a very good basketball team. The opportunity to put our players in an environment like this and compete against a team of that caliber is only going to make us better. We're excited about what this season can become as we move forward."
A CLOSER LOOK
Gabby Grantham-Medley contributed six points and six rebounds while knocking down a pair of three-pointers. Freshman
Amaya Robinson made her collegiate debut, finishing with five points, three assists and two rebounds. Classmate
Ayala Oren narrowly missed a double-double, pacing the Dukes with nine rebounds and a team-best seven assists while adding four points in 25 minutes in her first collegiate appearance. Junior
De'Naya Rippey grabbed seven rebounds, including four on the offensive glass, in her first game wearing a Duquesne uniform, while junior
Maja Rohkohl chipped in five rebounds.
UP NEXT
Duquesne returns to Pittsburgh for its home opener on Sunday, Nov. 8, welcoming Clarion to UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse for a 2:00 p.m. tipoff.
