Noah Fries | staff writer

Most freshmen come into college athletics with the expectation of serving limited roles, allowing their more experienced upperclassmen teammates to lead their team to victory. But for Duquesne, only three players are upperclassmen, leaving more room for freshmen like Alexis Bordas to shine.

Hailing from Wheeling, West Virginia, Bordas has made an immediate impact at Duquesne. She leads the Dukes in points per game so far this season with 15.1, instantly becoming Duquesne’s most efficient shooter just months after arriving on the Bluff.

Bordas had a career day that catapulted Duquesne to a victory against Pitt in the 43rd City Game on Dec 21. She tallied 38 points on 11-for-22 shooting from the floor, including hitting 10 of her 18 attempts from beyond the arc. She also added five rebounds, five assists and two steals to her stat line.

Bordas’ 38 points tie for the sixth-most in program history and also tie for the most in the Dan Burt era, with Laia Sole scoring 38 against Saint Francis in 2019. Bordas’ 10 3-pointers rank second in program history — behind Tess Myers’ 11 against Longwood in 2023 — and her 18 attempts from 3-point range are the most in the Burt era.

Bordas credited her development from a young age and the help of her teammates as the reasons why she can be so successful so early in her career.

“I think the preparation from a young age and just working very hard [has allowed me to succeed],” Bordas said. “I’ve always worked on staying very fundamentally sound, and I think that has transferred over very well. Also, being surrounded by such good players makes everything so much easier.”

Burt wasn’t surprised by Bordas’ 38-point performance — he was simply surprised that it hadn’t happened sooner.

“This was expected,” Burt explained. “She’s averaging 15.5 points per game, and she’s an incredibly obsessive and hardworking individual. In the classroom, she had a 4.0 [GPA] in pre-med in her first semester. She’s the definition of a student-athlete. And that won’t be her only 30-point game this year.”

The Dukes started out the game by knocking down three of their first five shots to jump out to a 9-4 advantage before the Panthers responded with an 11-2 run to take a four point lead into the first media timeout.

Duquesne responded with an 8-0 run, with Bordas and sophomore guard Fatou Sane knocking down triples. From then on, the Dukes had complete control of the game.

Duquesne went on a commanding 21-4 run to end the first quarter and to start the second, categorized by stifling defense and an offense that was firing on all cylinders.

Six different Dukes scored during the run, as Duquesne took a dominating 20-point lead into halftime at 49-29. The Dukes held Pitt to just 10 points in the second frame.

Duquesne’s defense continued to give Pitt fits in the second half, holding The Pathers to just 10-of-28 shooting from the field. Almost half of Pitt’s points in the second half came from the free-throw line, hitting 16 of 40.

Bordas completely dominated the second half by scoring 22 of her 38 points, including 14 points in the third quarter where she was a perfect 4-for-4 from beyond the arc.

The Dukes wouldn’t let the Panthers get any closer than 15, and Duquesne comfortably won their third consecutive city game with a 84-69 victory.

“The City Game is the biggest game in girls or women’s basketball in our region,” Burt said, “and to come to the point where we dominate the series is a testament to where our program is overall.”

Since being hired as the head coach in 2013, no program in the A10 has won more games than Duquesne under Burt’s command.

“The cherry on top of that so-called sundae is when you have success in the City Game,” Burt continued. “When you have two Division I teams two miles apart, and there’s some animosity there, it’s always good to come out three times in a row in the win column and eight of the last 11.”

Guards Mackenzie Blackford and Reina Green joined Bordas in double figures, with 14 and 11 points, respectively. Sophomore forward Harriet Ford led the team with nine rebounds, with the team tallying 45 total rebounds and 17 offensive boards.

“It’s such a fun game,” Blackford said, “and you saw with the crowd how important it is to the city. It’s really fun to play in a game that has such high stakes and to be 2-0 [in my career] is awesome.”

For Bordas, her performance remains solely on the stat sheet, as the impact her team had on her was worth more than any amount of points.

“It really was a fun game,” Bordas said. “All the support and encouragement I had from my teammates meant so much. That was even better than having a good performance, having them celebrate and be so happy for me afterwards.”

Noah Fries can be reached at friesn@duq.edu