Duquesne Falls to Kent State, 71-66

The Duquesne Women’s Basketball Team battled foul trouble and the scoreboard, but a fourth quarter road charge feel short in a 71-66 setback to Kent State Wednesday night at the MAC Center.

Duquesne (4-6) was led by Fatou Pouye’s career-high 31 points on 9-of-16 shooting. Pouye was also 10-for-14 from the free-throw line in her 31 minutes of work.

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Tess Myers added 14 points making five of her eight shots from the field, four of which came from three-point range.

Kent State (7-1) was paced by Katie Shumate’s 21 points, while Casey Santoro had 19 points and seven assists. Lindsey Thall finished with a final line consisting of 16 points and nine rebounds.

Duquesne changed its starting lineup for the first time since Nov. 14, placing both Halle Bovell and Laia Sole into the five.

Sole would score her 1,000th career point during Wednesday night’s game finishing with six points, while having to battle foul trouble in the final quarter.

Following a recent home game, Duquesne coach Dan Burt challenged Myers to shoot more from deep and early in the first quarter, she responded nailing a three-point shot to tie the contest.

Duquesne would hold the lead heading into the first quarter media timeout as Pouye converted the hoop and the harm.

Kent State would seize back control with a 5-0 run and lead 15-14 after one quarter of play.

The Golden Flashes scored the first five points to begin the second quarter and eight of the first 11, opening up a six-point advantage.

Kent State would go cold for nearly three minutes, but Duquesne’s response would separate the teams by two points.

Duquesne would cut the deficit to one point, before Thall added a triple, one of seven from Kent State in the first half.

Thall added another with 32 seconds remaining in the first half, as Kent State led 34-27 at halftime.

Myers opened the third quarter with another three-point basket, but Kent State responded with a 7-0 run to open up an 11-point advantage.

It would lead by as many as 13 points in the quarter, but Duquesne cut it to 52-43 after three quarters.

Duquesne opened the fourth quarter playing with a sense of urgency as Sole converted a layup, and Libby Bazelak drained a three-point shot, her first field goal of the night, cutting its disadvantage to four points.

Kent State then committed a turnover, but an offensive foul gave Sole her fourth foul. Later on, Schmate drained a three-point basket, to put the advantage back at seven points.

Duquesne would then lose Bazelak and Precious Johnson to fouls. Bazelak first fouled in a play where officials could also have whistled Bovell. On the ensuing inbounds pass, Johnson was called for her disqualifying foul.

Battling foul trouble, Duquesne went small as Amaya Hamilton played as a post. Pouye went to work placing the Dukes behind by one point on multiple occasions.

Hamilton missed two makeable layups as Kent State went back up by three.

Down five with less than a minute to go, Myers nailed another one from beyond the arc putting the Dukes behind by two.

Santoro then split free throws, giving Duquesne the opportunity to tie the game, but when Megan McConnell did not see any of her teammates create separation, she took a deep three-point shot which was short of target.

Duquesne next returns home as the second game in a doubleheader. It will host Saint Francis with a scheduled 5 p.m. tip, in a contest carried by ESPN+.