Noah Fries | staff writer

Despite starting with a 4-0 record and winning six of its first eight games, the Duquesne women’s basketball team has lost eight of its last nine — including five straight — to fall to 0-6 in conference play and 7-10 overall.

The 0-6 conference record has the Dukes in the cellar of the A10, with 12 games still to come in conference play.

The latest defeat came at the hands of George Washington at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse on Wednesday. Duquesne was only able to muster 14 points across the first half, falling to the Revolutionaries 59-45.

“That was an incredibly poor performance from everyone within our program,” Head Coach Dan Burt said.

“From the head coach, to the coaching staff, to the players.”

Burt declined to have any of his players available for comment after the game.

Freshman guard Alexis Bordas continued to be the dominant force for the Dukes, tallying 20 points on 6 of 17 shooting, including 3-for-9 from 3-point land. No other Duke was able to break into the double digits, but junior guard Reina Green added 9 points.

Bordas was responsible for 44.4% of Duquesne’s scoring against GW, while the rest of the starting five combined for 16 points. The team shot 28.6% from the field, proving just how cold the Dukes have gotten recently.

“She’s the only one right now who can effectively score for us shooting the ball,” Burt explained. “The only one that can really create a shot for herself at this point, with us standing around as much as we are is Lex, and she’s doing it while being face guarded the entire game.”

The story of the game — as it has been all year for the Dukes — would be turnovers. Duquesne has averaged 18.9 turnovers per game this season. The only team in the A10 that turns the ball over more than Duquesne is Dayton, who has averaged 20.1 turnovers per game.

Duquesne turned the ball over 19 times in the game against George Washington, with four Dukes committing three or more turnovers. The Dukes have turned the ball over 20+ times in eight games this season, and limiting these turnovers is something that needs to be improved to turn the season around.

Despite the recent struggles, there are a number of things that have gone well for Duquesne this season. Bordas has been a phenom for the Dukes in her freshman season, picking up right where she left off in high school after winning the West Virginia Gatorade Player of the Year award three times, being the first player in West Virginia history to do so.

Bordas is averaging 15.8 points per game so far this season, good for fifth-most in the A10. She has won the A10 Rookie of the Week accolade three times so far this season, and her 3.31 made 3-point field goals per game is third most in the country.

Duquesne also excels at offensive rebounding — 10th in the country with 17.1 per game — and points in the paint. In all but one of the team’s conference losses, Duquesne has outscored or tied opponents in points in the paint, and crashing the glass and taking advantage of the paint will be crucial to future success.

One thing that must improve for the Dukes is the efficiency from beyond the arc. The team is extremely hot and cold from the 3-point line, with numbers like 47% against Pitt just to fall to 14% against St. Bonaventure. The Dukes get into trouble whenever their 3-point game is off, with each of their last five losses coming with less than 63 points scored and no higher than 35% from beyond the arc.

“We’re going to have to two-point people to death,” Burt said, “and that means you’re going to have to make a one-dribble jump shot and score. We got to be able to score in the post.”

Crucial matchups lie ahead on the schedule for Duquesne to stay afloat in the A10. The Dukes still have home-and-home matchups with Saint Joseph’s, as well as rematches against previous conference losses.

With rematches against teams in the A10 that the Dukes have lost to VCU, St. Bonaventure, Dayton and Saint Louis, it is a necessity to win down the stretch to improve the conference record, and not let these teams win the tiebreakers that could be crucial when it comes to tournament play.

The upcoming four game stretch — home against Dayton, home against Saint Joseph’s (No. 5 in the A10), away at Richmond (No. 3), and home against La Salle (No. 6) — is a crucial one to end January.

Noah Fries can be reached at friesn@duq.edu