PITTSBURGH — On Wednesday night, Duquesne took down Pitt in the City Game behind a big night from Jerni Kiaku, Megan McConnell, and company.
Pitt’s Marley Washenitz opened the scoring with a three pointer, just seconds into the game. Mikayla Johnson added a three pointer minutes later, as Pitt jumped out to a 6-2 lead.
However, a Gabby Hutcherson layup and a Megan McConnell three quickly gave the Dukes a 7-6 advantage. After some back-and-forth action, the Dukes pulled away with a 7-0 run near the end of the first quarter behind baskets from Gabby Hutcherson, Andjela Matic, and Kiaku. In the first, Hutcherson — who was making her return to her former school — scored four points and grabbed a rebound. At the end of the quarter, the Dukes led 19-14.
In the second quarter, Kiaku led the Dukes to another strong frame, scoring seven points. Pitt’s Khadija Faye answered with nine of her own points in the quarter, but the Panthers continued to struggle from the field. Duquesne entered the half with an eight-point lead, as Pitt shot just 9 for 34 from the field in the half and 5-14 on layups.
Pitt was not done fighting just yet. The Panthers stormed back behind Faye early in the third quarter. Pitt’s star forward scored eight points in the first few minutes of the frame, leading Pitt to tie the game at 38 with 7:34 to play in the quarter. After she left the court with an injury multiple times in the quarter, Faye returned to the court in the final frame.
It was a close battle in the fourth quarter, until Kiaku once again hit a big shot for the Dukes to earn some breathing room for Dan Burt’s squad. Leading by two with just over one minute to play, Kiaku drained a three pointer, giving Duquesne a five-point advantage. With 58 seconds to play, Pitt had the ball, trailing 70-65. The Panthers earned two points back on a pair of free throws from Marley Washenitz.
On the other end, with less than three seconds on the shot clock, Duquesne’s Kiandra Browne stepped into a massive three pointer. Browne had already made two threes in the game, and this time, banked in the shot, pushing Duquesne’s lead back up to six points with just 23 seconds remaining. After a Pitt miss, Duquesne closed out the win with late foul shots from Browne.
Kiaku finished as Duquesne’s leading scorer with 20 points, while McConnell turned in a double double, scoring 14 and grabbing 12 rebounds. For Pitt, Faye finished as the leading scorer and rebounder once again, dropping a spectacular 23-point, 15-rebound stat line.
Pitt falls to 5-5 with the loss, while the Dukes improve to 5-2 on the season.
Less than one hour before tip off, Pitt announced that guard Bella Perkins has been dismissed from the program.
Pitt Basketball Dismisses Guard from Team
