Duquesne WBB’s Three Point Shooting Woes Result In Road Loss

The road was unkind to the Duquesne Women’s Basketball Team as it dropped a 58-52 contest to George Washington Wednesday at the Charles E. Smith Center.

Duquesne (14-9/4-6 Atlantic 10) was led by Megan McConnell’s 12 points and 12 rebounds, good for her 10th double-double of the season. It was her 13th double-digit rebounding effort.

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Ayanna Townsend made her first start since Dec. 4 and posted 11 points in 17 minutes of play. Townsend made the first start in place of Precious Johnson, who did play, posting eight points and six rebounds.

Tess Myers added 10 points but shot 2-of-15 from the field, making one of her 14 three-point shot attempts.

GW (15-8/7-3 A-10) saw Mia Lakstigala tied her career high with 21 point and also contributed eight rebounds. Nya Robertson added 15 points and Mayowa Taiwo contributed seven points and 16 rebounds.

The Colonials grabbed 55 rebounds and were a +14 overall on the boards.

It was a defensive-minded first quarter, as both teams fired at 4-for-16 clips from the field, though Duquesne missed all seven of its three-point shots during this opening period.

Misfires from beyond the arc would be the story throughout Wednesday night as Myers buried the aforementioned triple, the Dukes lone connection from deep for the entire game. The Dukes attempted 29 total three-point shots.

GW did open on a 10-2 run and held on to lead 10-8 as Duquesne found a spark to end the quarter. Even so, the eight points matched the team’s lowest in the first stanza which also occurred on Dec. 4 at Delaware.

Duquesne’s run reached 8-0 when Amaya Hamilton opened the second-quarter scoring as GW did not make a field goal for 7:34 of overall game action.

The Dukes took their first lead when Townsend converted a layup off a Colonials turnover. Both teams then traded three-pointers.

Duquesne led 18-16 with 3:38 to play in the second quarter after McConnell split free throws. This would be the last Dukes edge of the evening.

GW would then go on a 9-0 run to take control as halftime neared, but Johnson’s layup with two seconds remaining before intermission allowed the Dukes to find a small spark before play stopped.

With the make, the Colonials remained in front 25-20.

Duquesne stretched the run to 6-0 with two baskets, but Lakstigala countered with a three-point basket and eventually would settle into a 9-2 run.

McConnell beat the buzzer on a layup to end the period, but the Dukes found themselves down 39-32 heading into the final quarter.

Duquesne would rally from being down nine, but each time the game drew close, its opponent would find a counter to remain ahead.

With time not on its side, the Dukes continued to miss from three-point range. Though Duquesne outscored GW in the fourth quarter, that would be the only period it would emerge victorious and the Dukes still shot 27.8% from the field.

Duquesne will attempt to regroup with its 2 p.m. tilt Saturday against VCU back at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.