Ben Deihl | staff writer

The Duquesne women’s basketball team survived a miraculous fourth-quarter effort from Atlantic 10 Conference rival Loyola Chicago on Saturday afternoon, picking up a narrow win on the road, 75-70. The win broke a three-game losing streak for the Dukes, giving the team some much-needed life before another loss Wednesday night at Fordham, 56-53.

In Chicago, the Ramblers outscored the Dukes 41-22 in the fourth quarter, but key buckets by Megan McConnell and Mackenzie Blackford stopped Loyola’s fourth-quarter heroics and helped Duquesne improve to 16-9 overall and an even 7-7 in conference play.

Duquesne Head Coach Dan Burt was proud of his team’s performance throughout the game, but recognized there was still room to improve when closing out games.

“We’re happy with how we played in the first three quarters, but obviously disappointed with the fourth,” he said. “We got a little out of rhythm with our rotation, but we have to be better.”

Before the fourth-quarter push, Duquesne held the Ramblers to just four points in the third quarter, forcing an ice-cold 14.3% shooting from the field. Raymi Coueta lead the charge offensively in the third, shooting 50% from deep and tallying eight of Duquesne’s 19 points.

Near the end of the third quarter, the Dukes held a staggering 24-point lead, and the game looked all but over. But Loyola caught fire late with the help of former Dukes guard Naelle Bernard, who scored 17 of her 25 points in the fourth. Audrey Deptula also hit double-digits in the last frame with 11. The Ramblers caused several Duquesne scoring droughts, but the Dukes held firm and sealed the game with near-perfect 6-of-8 free-throw shooting.

McConnell led a Dukes team that saw four players score in the double-digits. She lit up the stat sheet with 15 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals. Blackford was also essential to the win, hitting five of her attempted six free throws in the fourth quarter to ice the game. Andjela Matic and Gabby Hutcherson bolstered the Dukes’ performance with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Matic also notched five rebounds and four assists, along with four clutch free throws to help bury the Ramblers late.

The Dukes couldn’t bring their momentum across the George Washington Bridge, however, as Fordham would best them in the Bronx. The contest saw 15 different lead changes and nine ties, but the Rams’ second-half adjustments proved to be too much to handle. Duquesne entered the second half with a modest 31-26 lead, but Fordham scored 15 points in each the third and fourth quarters to put it ahead by the final buzzer, dropping the Dukes to back under .500 in the A-10.

Duquesne opened up the first quarter in close competition with the Rams, scoring back-and-forth buckets which culminated into a 16-14 Duquesne advantage. Play generally stayed at the same pace in the second quarter, with Duquesne not too far ahead.

The Dukes made it a point to emphasize forcing turnovers, as the team collected a staggering 21 on the night with 15 of them occurring in the first half. Duquesne flipped those turnovers into 22 points, while Fordham was only able to force six Duquesne turnovers and couldn’t turn any into scores.

Defense was on full display throughout the game. Besides the turnovers, Duquesne snatched seven steals and held the Rams to 39.6% shooting from the field. Fordham put similar clamps on the Dukes, allowing just 27.7% shooting and blocking five shots, with Nelson and Irene Murua stuffing two attempts each. Duquesne’s 6-for-31 field-goal performance in the second half likely lost it the game.

Duquesne also held the Rams to an abysmal 1-for-13 beyond the arc, the only one going down in the first half. That didn’t matter to Fordham. The Rams dominated in the Rose Hill paint, scoring 28 points compared to Duquesne’s 18.

Fordham’s Chaé Harris was all over the score sheet, scoring 15 points and getting four rebounds, two steals, a block, and the Rams’ lone 3-pointer. Kaila Berry added 10 points and 11 rebounds, while Nelson finished the game with 11 points and five rebounds.

It was once again all McConnell on Duquesne’s side of the ball, dropping 17 points along with 12 rebounds, four assists, and three steals. She also shot a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Senior Gabby Hutcherson was the only other Duke to score double digits, collecting 13 points with 3-for-7 3-point shooting, four rebounds, and a block.

With the loss, Duquesne falls to ninth place in the A-10 standings The Dukes look to rebound with back-to-back home games against Saint Louis and St. Bonaventure on Saturday afternoon and Wednesday morning, respectively, before closing out the season at George Mason on Mar. 1.