The Dukes also extended its winning streak to 12, and the victory is its 17th consecutive win at home. In doing so, Duquesne (13-1, 1-0 A10) put an end to the Dayton Flyer’s (7-5, 0-1 A10) six game winning streak, and did so with conviction and passion.
After grabbing the first of her 10 rebounds, April Robinson brought the ball down the court and assisted Amadea Szamois in completing a jumper, which started an impressive Duquesne 14-2 run, which not only stunned the Flyers, but brought shock and amazement to most of its fans.
Indeed, it wasn’t until Jodie Cornele made a jumper at the eight-minute mark that finally removed the goose egg from the Flyer’s side of the scoreboard.
Duquesne continued to dominate the Flyers with its zone defense, forcing them to take most of its shots from the three-point range, most of which were unsuccessful. Overall, Dayton shot 20 and 22 percent of its field goals and three-pointers in the first half.
“I’ve been here nine years and that is as an enjoyable game as we have probably played that I have been a part of. It’s been probably one of the top five games where we played exceptionally well,” said Duquesne women’s basketball head coach Dan Burt.
Despite Duquesne turning the ball over 22 times, it was still able to maintain the lead throughout the contest. The closest Dayton would come to catching Duquesne was three, 14-11, with 2:25 remaining in the first quarter.
Burt added, “We had 22 turnovers which was disappointing, but if we turn the ball over 22 times and play like that, I’ll take it every single time.”
Concerning the topic of national ranking Burt said, “The real story is if we’re not ranked after this and what we’ve done, then I don’t know what we need to do, and it’s that simple.”
With under one minute remaining in the first half, the women had established a double-digit lead, 40-20. However, their largest lead of the game, 37, 83-49 came with 3:37 left in the game after Conor Richardson posted a three-pointer.
Remarking on what was her first-ever triple-double game, Robinson said,” I could hear it in the stands, it’s a good feeling.”
Duquesne ended up having five players post double-digit scores. Tied at 17 each were Robinson and Szamosi. Robinson also had 10 rebounds and 11 assists.
Leading the Flyer’s scoring effort was Lauren Cannatelli with 16 points, two rebounds and two assists.
The Dukes travel to Virginia to face George Mason (6-8, 1-0 A10) who also won its conference opener against Saint Louis Sunday.
