Duquesne WBB Falls Short On Senior Day; Seeded Fifth In A-10 Championships

Throughout his press conference following a 77-73 senior day loss to Saint Joseph’s Saturday afternoon, Duquesne coach Dan Burt often paused both before and during his answers, seemingly at a loss for words.

Duquesne did not come into the day in a driver’s seat position as it was fifth coming into the week and also lost at Richmond. The Dukes needed to take care of business by winning and then hoping Richmond bested St. Bonaventure and George Mason defeated VCU on the road.

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George Mason was unable to pull off the victory and Duquesne did not hold serve either locking it into the fifth seed at next week’s Atlantic 10 Championships.

“They’re obviously upset because they’re kids that care,” Burt said. “They have a deep commitment, and we have to understand that wins and losses are how you define us but the journey we had this year with our team was one that was enjoyable, that was redemption early. We’ve won 10 out of 13. It’s been a good run in January and February and that’s what we were playing for all year, since August when we were planning all of this as coaches.

“We wanted to be mentally and physically healthy at the end of February to give us the best chance to play in the conference tournament and succeed in the A-10 tournament. Our kids are deeply hurt right now, they’ll bounce back and Monday we’ll be ready to play.

Duquesne (18-11/13-5 Atlantic 10) was paced by both Megan McConnell as well as Ayanna Townsend, each of whom recorded 18 points and seven rebounds. Lauren Wasylson posted a season-high 12 points. Precious Johnson completed play with 11 points and seven rebounds and Jerni Kiaku netted 11 points.

Saint Joseph’s (26-4/15-3 A-10) saw Laura Ziegler set a new career high with her 27 points and she added 12 rebounds good for her 13th double-double of the season. Mackenzie Smith added 24 points on 8-of-11 shooting. The Hawks assisted on 22 of 28 made shots and were 11-for-21 from three-point range.

“I think the world of Ziegler and Mac Smith,” revealed Burt. “They answered the call today. We did everything we could do to stop them and it didn’t work. I’m prouder of the players we have and how we battled until the very end. They had a 13-0 run and we threw the kitchen sink at them multiple timeouts and adjustments and they made big shots. We answered that late, but we came up a little bit short.”

Duquesne had its struggles in the first quarter as the Hawks made a trio of early triples, while the Dukes relied more on their inside game.

It was a six-point Hawks lead until Kiaku recorded a steal in the closing seconds and her layup cut the deficit to 18-14 after 10 minutes.

Duquesne was able to get Saint Joseph’s in foul trouble during the second quarter as Smith and Talya Brugler sat for extended periods of time and to a degree the Dukes were able to capitalize.

A 10-0 Duquesne run had the hosts in front by four points, and ultimately 35-33 at halftime.

“We were attacking and were able to get buckets,” Burt explained. “I was just really happy with the kids and they’re commitment to the game plan and how hard they played. I wish we could have found a way to get them the win.”

In the second half, the Hawks got those pair of players back and shot 66.7% from the field, while it was Duquesne’s time to have some struggles from the field.

It was a 13-0 Saint Joseph’s run which saw the visitors take a nine-point advantage and that margin held until the end of the third quarter.

Duquesne kept fighting in the final quarter and despite trailing by as many as 15 points, continued to fight ultimately falling short.

Prior to the game, Johnson, Townsend, Wasylson, Amaya Hamilton and Selma Kulo were recognized for senior day.

The Atlantic 10 will release the official tournament bracket later Saturday night, but according to a10talk.com’s Daniel Frank, the Dukes will face the winner of La Salle and Massachusetts Thursday afternoon after a bye.

“I think our attention quickly turned to the conference tournament because they’re a group that believes we can win the A-10 tournament,” concluded Burt. “I think we’re a very dangerous team when we go to Richmond in a couple of days. We will have a group of players that will burn the ship. That’s been our mantra. It means there’s no retreat and the only thing we can do is win. Whatever it takes to win we’ll do that when we arrive in Richmond.”

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