The Duquesne Women’s Basketball Team led wire to wire, sweeping a two-game road trip, by overwhelming George Washington 97-55 Saturday afternoon at the Charles E. Smith Center.
“When we laid out the vision of how we wanted to play in June, this is the perfect example of it,” Duquesne head coach Dan Burt stated in a university-issued release. “We didn’t play a perfect game, but, but our effort was perfect. The way we sprinted from behind and got tips, our pressure that led to 44 deflections and 26 turnovers. With 44 deflections and the 26 turnovers and the tips from behind, it just creates a very uncomfortable environment for the opponent and then, we want to take a lot of threes and today the basketball hoop was like a hula hoop.”
Duquesne (11-5/2-3 Atlantic 10) was led by freshman guard Mackenzie Blackford’s career-high 20 points, on 7-of-11 shooting from the field. Six of Blackford’s seven shots came from three-point range.
Another key contributor for the Dukes was Kiandra Browne who set a career high with her 17 points.
Both Jerni Kiaku and Nadia Moore scored 13 points, with this making the latter fall a point short of matching her career high. Megan McConnell was contained to a season-low five points, but she did record six rebounds and six assists. Her five steals saw her eclipse the 300-steal mark.
Duquesne which bested Saint Joseph’s on the road Thursday, stayed on the road in a move similar to its male counterparts, who last season first played at George Mason and then played at VCU.
The victory was by far Duquesne’s largest margin on the road this season, with the Dec. 8 City Game win over Pitt, a four-point triumph, the previous best. The 97 points were the third-highest output this season (100 Nov. 16 vs Niagara & 98 Dec. 8 vs Carnegie Mellon). Duquesne recorded 22 assists in this game, while GW made a total of 22 field goals.
Duquesne also buried 19 three-point baskets in this win, this was one away from matching the program record, twice set in the Dan Burt era (@ St. Bonaventure 2/15/23 & vs Longwood 12/14/23).
George Washington (8-8/1-4 A-10) saw Maxine Engel post 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting. No other Revolutionaries player achieved double digits, and the hosts committed 26 turnovers in this loss.
Duquesne was able to score the opening five points of the game, behind a Reina Green fastbreak layup off a Revs turnover and a Moore three-point basket.
This run extended to 11-2 in the first 2:30 of game action, when Kiaku was off to the races from a Browne rebound. Her layup activated a GW timeout.
The lead reached its highest point of the quarter when McConnell found Browne from beyond the arc, making the score 30-9 after 10 minutes.
In the second quarter, Andjela Matic went on a personal 5-0 run and the run extended to eight when Fatou Sane found Blackford from distance.
At the half, Duquesne decisively led by a 44-16 margin. This is the fewest first half points the Dukes have conceded all season.
The third quarter saw Duquesne’s lead exceed 30 with the first basket of the stanza, another Moore triple and ultimately the advantage was a decisive 74-43 mark with 10 minutes to play.
With the teams at a considerable points difference apart; Burt was able to rest some of his starters. Megan McConnell’s 28 minutes for example tied a season low.
Conversely, her cousin, Kellie McConnell played nine minutes, Faith Walker played a double-digit minutes total for the fourth consecutive game and Sane matched a personal best with 12 minutes.
Duquesne now has some clear momentum as it returns to the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse to host Dayton Wednesday at 6 p.m. This game serves as the Dukes Pink Out Game and will be carried on both ESPN+ and SportsNet Pittsburgh.
“With Mack, she shot it today the way we feel like she can shoot it, with deep range and with little space, and she can extend and stretch the floor,” concluded Burt. “She didn’t hesitate, and she was firing away in all cylinders, and that’s the expectation for her. The other thing is, she played really good defense, too. Every time Kiandra shoots the ball, I think it’s going in. Today, not only did she shoot the ball well from three, but she had three beautiful up and under moves to get buckets in the paint, and gave us really good minutes, along with four rebounds and a couple charges.”
