Inside the Dukes: Waterworks and Determination

All of Lauren Wasylson’s life she has been told no, even in her time with Duquesne Women’s Basketball through a torn ACL and sprained ankle to suffering from blood clots this year which not only could have ended her career, but life in general.

For 1:03 everything Wasylson had battled through to come back to the court was displayed on the basketball court. Everything she touched turned to gold, all in the name of striking back against that two-letter word.

Duquesne basketball on Pittsburgh Sports Now is sponsored by The Summit Academy: setting young men on the path to a better future.

No. No, she was determined for her college basketball career to continue.

Wasylson came out of a time out and after mishandling a ball, fired up a three-point shot which fell, getting her going. She buried six free throw shots, made possible by getting in position with her length to catch and shoot.

As Monmouth hung its heads in disbelief at what was happening, Wasylson fired up the bench, her teammates and the fans who were already pumped up from Duquesne President Ken Gormley encouraging everyone to chant “Let’s go Dukes”, received an extra jolt of enthusiasm.

These same Dukes, with 1:03 remaining were a 99.8% underdog according to ESPN win predictability found its way. The odds did not factor in that Duquesne was that .2%.

When Wasylson fouled Hawks guard Sandrine Clesca, she did not come through at the line. The ball once again bounced Duquesne’s way.

After Wasylson tied the game, Bell, Duquesne’s defensive coordinator saw how Monmouth’s Jania Hall was playing and having some success and, in this instance, it was determined to switch the guard onto the four spot, and it was another play which made the Hawks uncomfortable as the overtime period was secured by a stop.

“Coming down to the end of the game we were down eight and obviously with my career on the line, obviously nobody wants it to end, we have a great team, we all love each other so much and we want to keep this success going as long as we can,” Wasylson determined. “We practice free throws every day and Coach (Rick) Bell tells us to put yourself in game-like scenario where it might happen and that’s what happened today.”

Up a basket in the closing seconds, Duquesne’s offensive coordinator Vanessa Abel knew exactly who she wanted the ball to go to.

While of the third guards the Dukes were counting on to be x-factors had shot the ball particularly well heading into that fourth quarter stretch, Wasylson earned her spot on the court because of the rhythm the team was playing without her and that decision helped will Duquesne into prime position after Amaya Hamilton’s go-ahead basket and drawn charge.

When the ball was being inbounded, Wasylson posted from beyond the arc and got the ball. When she was fouled everyone applauded loudly.

They knew.

By this point Gormley had worked his way to the court as Wasylson sank two more free throws and everyone knew the conclusion.

That conclusion was that Lauren Wasylson once again called game.

Hamilton approached Wasylson and after the exchange there was a clear smile. Wasylson was taking in the crowd’s noise, which she had helped to create.

In between free throws, Wasylson shook her head in disbelief. She had attempted five free throws all season and went a perfect 8-for-8 securing victory.

“Honestly it almost brings tears to my eyes because Lauren has been through hell and back since she’s been at Duquesne,” Dukes guard McConnell acknowledged. “To see her have the confidence to walk to the line and make huge free throw after free throw, she deserves this. She deserves this win.”

The Duquesne Women’s Basketball Team advanced to the WNIT’s Super 16 with a 69-65 overtime triumph over a Monmouth team which entered Monday night at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse as winners of its last 13 road games.

“The madness of March, that was a slobberknocker,” Duquesne Women’s Basketball coach Dan Burt said channeling his inner Jim Ross. “We had 16 days of rust and tried to do everything we could to prepare ourselves, but you can’t prepare yourselves for games in the postseason without playing. We knew we would have this rust, but it was how quickly we could get through it. I was hoping it would take a quarter, maybe three minutes, it took us maybe 38 minutes.”

This was a game in which the Dukes utilized the paint since three-point baskets hard to come by and in the game’s biggest moments, the fans had everything to cheer for and that did that and more.

As Duquesne celebrated the win, Burt stood at the halfcourt line, pausing, smiling at what his team had just accomplished and realizing that he would get to coach “the best team I’ve ever coached” for at least three more days.

“I’m incredibly happy for Lauren because she is one of the harder working players that we’ve ever had and we’ve really hard-working kids,” Burt observed. “She’s got the short end of the stick here with multiple serious injuries in her time at Duquesne. For her to be able to go out like this it’s a really nice thing to see. She’ll go on to play professional basketball at some level after this, but I said when she came here that I wanted her to always feel like this is home. I think she certainly feels that. Doing something like what she did tonight, certainly cements that and cements what her legend will be here.”

As Wasylson attempted to reflect on what just happened, she pondered if the Lauren of a couple months ago could have ever thought that such an effort would ever happen from her.

Tears began to form but this was one last battle Wasylson was going to win.

“No, I wouldn’t have (believed it),” deduced Wasylson. “Here come the tears. I didn’t think I was going to put on a jersey again. A lot of people do know my story with the blood clot situation. Everybody said I wasn’t going to play again and all my life I’ve proven people wrong. I did that and I especially did that today and I’m very proud of myself.”

A TRUE SISTERHOOD

As sophomore guard Jerni Kiaku was asked about her team, how different its dynamic is and how she felt about her experience, the response was unexpected.

The normally stoic Kiaku began to form tears, much to McConnell and Wasylson’s surprise. Both began to comfort her as she opened up, perhaps in a way neither had seen before.

“It’s great honestly,” Kiaku said of this group. “At the beginning of the season, we had to find our way to gel together and game by game, we found it. I know I haven’t been part of a group so special that really cares for each other this much. I’m just very thankful to be here and a part of this.”

It is clear how dynamic this Duquesne team has been this season, and that love continues to endure. As cliche as it sounds, a different person has stepped up for the Dukes on an almost game-by-game basis which provides confidence.

In this game Duquesne desperately needed energy in the second quarter, so Burt subbed in Kiandra Browne.

Browne had played in recent games but her seven minutes were the most since Feb. 7, but Burt knew what he had, and what he needed. What this team needed.

It was that kinetic energy she had to make opposing players uncomfortable when they have the ball and the position, she got into to earn multiple whistles.

The two points she had was one thing, but it was no coincidence that Duquesne made a run at the end of the second quarter and beginning of the third with her on the court.

“She just creates energy and played quality minutes to help us win that basketball game and we talked about that in the locker room after the game that her minutes were valuable,” Burt revealed.

It was that defensive effort which won the game as Duquesne struggled to shake off the rust which was displayed on the court and scoreboard.

Though the Dukes displayed some long faces, there were no tears, just a collective determination to find a way and extend the season.

The rest proved to be history.

“We didn’t shoot the ball really well, so we knew we needed defensive stops,” concluded McConnell. “We had to get stops and keep attacking. We had to keep going in the paint and our shots would end up falling. We have to have the mindset that defense travels, so we need defense to win us games sometimes and it really did today.”