Duquesne WBB Overwhelms Fordham; Advances To A-10 Quarterfinals

As the Duquesne Women’s Basketball Team pulled up to Big Ben’s Home Court Wednesday, at least half of the team had one question, who was Ben Wallace?

A Duquesne team which has half of its roster as freshmen or close to it, was competing in a lot of players’ first on-court action during the Atlantic 10 Championship, leading for 39 minutes and overwhelming Fordham 79-63 in a second-round contest Thursday at the Henrico Sports & Events Center.

“I feel really good about today’s win it felt like a total team effort,” Duquesne coach Dan Burt told assembled reporters following the victory. “We had three people in double figures, but we had many contributions, some don’t show in the box score with how we defended and how we cut. Fordham is an outstanding rebound team and today to be within three of them with the difference in size really show the fight that our team has. (I am) really happy about the win today and how we started, shooting it with great confidence.”

This victory avenges two regular season losses to the Rams, which were by a combined five points, the first of which came on an Irene Murua buzzer beater at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.

“The first two times we played them we didn’t play our best at all, and we knew we lost by one possession both times,” senior guard Megan McConnell stated. “It’s hard to beat a team three times so we really came out and put it on them.”

Duquesne (19-11/9-9 Atlantic 10) was led by Jerni Kiaku’s 21 points on a 9-of-16 shooting performance. McConnell played 39 minutes, scoring 17 points, to go along with six rebounds and seven assists. She also reached her average with four steals, a figure which ranks second in NCAA DI. The three-point line was good for Andjela Matic as it accounted for all 15 of her points, making five in eight attempts.

The Dukes shot 47.5% from the field and made 12 three pointers, the 17th time they have recorded a double-digit number of triples.

Fordham’s (15-15/9-9 A-10) season comes to an end as Murua led the way with her 19-point, 12-rebound, double-double. Right behind her was Taylor Donaldson who had 18 points but needed 21 shots and a free throw to get there. Donaldson also contributed eight rebounds.

Throughout the week, Duquesne started its practices aggressively and that extended into this game as the Dukes shot 61.1% from the field, compared to Fordham who was contained to 15% and of its three field goals, none were from three-point range.

Kiaku needed four seconds to score Duquesne’s first points, and it led to a 28-5 start. After Kiaku’s basket, McConnell had an and-one play. Murua scored four points before Fordham went cold for 7:24. Duquesne had a 28-7 advantage after one quarter.

“I think our preparation and focus leading up to this week was very sharp and you couldn’t have asked for us to start any better,” determined McConnell. “We always focus on punching first, and we really did that today.”

Duquesne remained on point from the field shooting 53.9% in the second quarter. Though Fordham won the 10 minutes, despite Donaldson briefly going down in pain, the Dukes had nine three-point baskets before halftime with Matic accounting for three of those.

The Duquesne lead was 48-28 lead at halftime, a comfortable place for the ninth seed as evidenced by a now 19-4 record when leading at the half.

In a lower-scoring third quarter, Duquesne still shot 50% from the field, while Fordham was held to seven points for the second time in three quarter, firing at a 16.7% mark.

It was an 8-0 run which gave the Dukes a 28-point edge with the Rams held scoreless for 4:30, a skid which went back to the second quarter. Another Matic three, this one with just inside of a minute remaining in the third quarter had Duquesne leading 64-35, its largest margin of the game.

The fourth quarter has been a bit of a trouble spot for the Dukes in recent games and it was outscored by 13 points, as they were held to a 25% shooting clip. Duquesne did not score in the game’s final 3:22, allowing Fordham to score the game’s final nine points.

Duquesne has advanced to the Atlantic 10 Championship quarterfinals for the second consecutive season, with top-seeded Richmond the opponent. Duquesne fell 82-58 to the Spiders in a nationally televised home contest during the regular season. The 11 a.m. contest is expected to generate a lot of local schools.

“We have great respect for Richmond, I’ve known Aaron a really long time and he’s assembled a great basketball team,” Burt reasoned. “They showed how good they were when we played against them. The day that we played against them we tried to do some things that didn’t work obviously. It was outside of our wheelhouse; things we did not do in any other game this year and we won’t be doing tomorrow.”