By Noah Fries
sports editor | friesn@duq.edu

After a hard-fought trip to Tennessee to take on one of the nation’s premier programs, the Duquesne women’s basketball team dominated Division II Clarion 97-60 in their home opener at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse on Sunday afternoon.

The victory was the Dukes’ seventh consecutive home opener victory, having won 21 of their last 24 home openers as well.

“It feels good to be back in this seat while winning basketball games and feeling really good about what the future holds,” Duquesne Head Coach Dan Burt said. “We played an opponent that we did what we were supposed to do against them. We’re very thankful that they came down to play us, and they played hard.”

The energy could be felt immediately in a busy Fieldhouse, and the team didn’t relinquish that energy throughout the game.

“It was super exciting,” freshman guard Amaya Robinson said. “We had the energy from the get-go, from the beginning to the end. Everybody was encouraging each other.”

The Golden Eagles got on the board first with an and-one by redshirt freshman guard Christiana Gordon in the first minute of the game. After Duquesne took the lead just over a minute later with a putback layup by junior center Maja Rohkohl and a three by freshman guard Ayala Oren, Clarion wouldn’t lead the rest of the game.

The story of the game early (and often) for the Dukes was the sharpshooting dominance by senior guard Carla Viegas, who transferred from the University of Pittsburgh this offseason. After dropping 24 points in the matchup with Tennessee, Viegas scored 10 points in the first quarter on 4-of-7 shooting.

“Coming to this game, we wanted to play as physical as possible, stop them in transition because Tennessee was also a really good team in transition,” Viegas said. “We wanted to do the same thing and just execute our offense.”

All five starters scored within the first four minutes of the game for Duquesne. Eight different Dukes tallied a bucket in the first quarter, jumping out to a 30-13 advantage while shooting 52.2% from the field as Clarion made just five shots in the frame.

Duquesne continued to inch further away from the Golden Eagles in the second quarter, emphasizing ball movement combined with quick shots to keep Clarion on its heels. The Dukes held a 24-point advantage heading into the break, with Viegas (13) and Robinson (11) leading the charge en route to a 55-31 score at halftime.

The team’s depth was evident early, with 10 of the 12 Dukes who saw playing time in the first half recording a bucket — including sophomore forward Raevin Washington who got her first points of the year, and freshman center Dieymarie Diouf who dropped her first bucket in a Duquesne uniform.

The Dukes had their most efficient quarter shooting the ball in the third, going 7-for-12 from the field (including 3-of-5 from behind the arc) to continue to extend the lead. Viegas had 11 points in the quarter for her third 20-point performance of her career — the second one came just six days prior at Tennessee.

Junior guard Kellie McConnell and freshman guard Dalma Grets both scored midway through the fourth quarter to have all 12 Dukes score in the game. Duquesne extended the gap to 37 late in the quarter for its largest lead of the game, which also ended up being the margin in the final score.

Viegas had a game-high 27 points in the contest, tying her career high from a matchup against the University of Miami with Pitt last season. Three other Dukes reached double figures: junior guard De’Naya Rippey (12), Robinson (12) and redshirt sophomore guard Nadia Moore (11). Rohkohl snagged a game-high 10 rebounds, which is her most as a Duke.

“I think it was really fun,” Viegas said. “The energy that my teammates brought, the confidence that they have in me — I really feel it every day, not just in the games. On top of that, we won, so that’s great.”

Burt noted that despite the great numbers, there is always room for growth for his young squad.

“We were 50/40/80 — 50% from the field, 40% from the three-point line and 80% from the free throw line,” Burt said. “That’s a really nice sign, and I didn’t think we necessarily shot it well because we got mostly every shot that we wanted. There’s a lot there that we have to work on.”

The Dukes have three games upcoming this week: home matchups with Marist on Wednesday and Robert Morris on Monday with an away trip to Kent State in between. The team will look to continue to learn more about itself throughout these November matchups.

“We’re supposed to do what we did tonight,” Burt said. “We’ll enjoy it. Let the kids get some positive outcomes from it, build self confidence. Get some people some minutes. Execute. Experiment a little bit. Then we got to burn the tape.”