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Duquesne snaps Saint Joseph’s series winning streak, 63-54 (Includes first-hand account)

This was the Hawk’s fourth consecutive loss, having lost to George Washington, Massachusetts and Fordham. For the Dukes, the win put them over the .500 mark in conference play, and it will face Georgetown on Wednesday with a (11-7, 3-2 A10) record.

Stasia King completes a jumper in action against Saint Josephs in Pittsburgh Sunday. Steve Pope/Digi...

Stasia King completes a jumper in action against Saint Josephs in Pittsburgh Sunday. Steve Pope/Digital Journal

Duquesne took control of the game and the boards very early in the game, and starting with two good free throws from April Robinson at the 19:20 mark, started a 7-0 run that went unanswered until Adashia Kranklyn after being fouled by Stasia King, put the Hawks on the board with a free throw with 13:41 left in the half making it 7-1.

Deva Nyar Workman hits a layup in first half action. Steve Pope/Digital Journal.

Deva’Nyar Workman hits a layup in first half action. Steve Pope/Digital Journal.

The Hawks were held to just 13 points in the first half, shooting 26 percent, zero percent of three-pointers and 60 percent of free throws. This is the lowest amount of points that the Dukes have allowed in the first half since they played Morehead State in 2013. Going into the locker room at halftime Duquesne was up 26-13.

Aggressive rebounder Deva’Nyar Workman who the Dukes recruited from a small junior college in Jacksonville, Texas, grabbed eight rebounds and two steals in first half play. Workman would end up with nine points, 11 rebounds, three assists and two steals. “I reminded Deva’Nyar the last two days about how she had a goose egg on the boards [Saint Louis game] and she certainly gave me a couple of dirty looks and certainly didn’t like what I had to say. She didn’t get 11 rebounds because of me, she did it because she’s a great rebounder and a kid that plays with such toughness and grit,” said Duquesne head coach Dan Burt.

Coming out of of the locker room Duquesne started the second half with a 10-2 run, capped by Belma Nurkic’s 100th career three-pointer, making the score, 36-15 with 14:01 left. This would be Duquesne’s largest lead of the game at 21 points.

The Hawks showed a national television audience that they were still in the game, when it came back with nine straight points to get within 12 of the Dukes at 36-24 with 11:50 remaining. The Hawks continued its comeback attempt by outscoring the Dukes 18-7 over the next five minutes and pulled to within 18 points making the score 51-44 with 2:45 left.

With 1:18 left, April Robinson made a key three-pointer after being passed the ball wide and put the Dukes up 56-46. In the final minute the Hawks continued to foul, and Duquesne was able to make seven of eight free throws in the final seconds.

April Robinson drives the lane past Natasha Cloud in first half play during Sunday s game.  Steve Po...

April Robinson drives the lane past Natasha Cloud in first half play during Sunday’s game. Steve Pope/Digital Journal

I am very proud of my team today. We’ll obviously have to shoot the basketball much better to win basketball games going forward,” said Burt. “I couldn’t be more proud of the effort and toughness and the grit we showed,”

“We needed to stay focused and keep our composure. The coaches still wanted us to push the ball in transition and get a shot each time down. We did not shoot well today, but we rebounded well and got a lot of second chances,” said April Robinson.

“I was so tempted to and then I took that dribble. After that still no one was there and I was feeling it. It was a gutsy move, but it went in,” said Robinson referring to her key three-pointer in the closing minutes of the game.

High Scorers for Duquesne with 12 points and three rebounds each were Belma Nurkic and April Robinson. The Hawk’s Ciara Andrews led with 17 points and five rebounds.

The Dukes travel to Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to face Georgetown

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