Tristan Huyett | staff writer

As player introductions began at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse on Monday night, a raucous Duquesne crowd got to their feet and boisterously cheered for the Dukes for the first time this season. While each player received a warm welcome, somehow the home crowd grew even louder when senior guard Megan McConnell’s name was called.

McConnell, entering her fifth and final season with the Dukes, appreciated the crowd’s excitement and treated the Duquesne faithful to a career-high 24 points, as well as a game-high five assists and made four of her eight 3-point attempts, as the Dukes upset the Princeton Tigers 76-66.

Eight of McConnell’s points came in the fourth quarter and spearheaded a 14-0 run that put the Dukes ahead for good, after entering the quarter trailing by 7.

“We had a great game plan,” McConnell said. “And we executed it to a T.”

Head coach Dan Burt emphasized his desire for his team to play with “relentless joy” in the weeks leading up to the season opener, something he felt his team showcased during Monday’s win.

“There’s the definition [of relentless joy] tonight,” Burt said. “It could not be a better definition of it.”

Though the Dukes were out rebounded by Princeton 46-31, Duquesne recorded eight steals to Princeton’s three, three blocks to Princeton’s one, and recorded eight fewer turnovers than their opponent.

“We played for one another,” Burt said. “We played with incredible effort, energy and juice … and we did it against a very good opponent.”

The “juice” that Burt described was brought on by a full team effort, as 12 Dukes saw the floor during the game to keep his team fresh entering the fourth quarter against a fatigued Princeton squad.

“They’re exhausted.” Burt said, “They were done.”

As the game wore on, Princeton was slow to get into their sets, with Burt noting how they often took 7 or 8 seconds to bring the ball past midcourt. Burt and McConnell both attributed a large part of the win to the team’s high level of conditioning.

“We know the style of play that we’re playing is not going to hit teams until the fourth quarter,” McConnell said. “You could see how tired they were.”

Contributing to Princeton’s fatigue was the Dukes’ seven-man bench unit that outscored the Princeton bench 28-19.

Nadia Moore, making her college basketball debut, led the Dukes bench with 10 points, tallied three rebounds, connected on three of her four attempts beyond the arc and was often in the mix fighting for loose balls and rebounds.

“That’s the person [Moore] has been since the day she arrived on campus,” Burt said. “She plays with a chip on her shoulder.”

With just over 5 minutes left in the game and the Dukes up by 3, Raymi Coueta found Moore who drained a three-pointer from the corner.

“She’s fearless,” Burt said. “That’s a freshman taking a big shot in a big moment, and she knocked it down.”

Jerni Kiaku, the third of three double-digit scorers for the Dukes, pitched in 10 points of her own. Kiaku, one of the few returning players for the Dukes, has been instrumental in instilling confidence in a squad with eight new players from a season ago.

“Confidence is huge, anything can happen when you’re playing so fast,” Kiaku said. “‘You’re good’ we always say that [to each other] because the way we’re playing, we’re liable to make mistakes but you have to keep going.”

Another player who made her presence felt was second year Duke senior Kiandra Browne. Browne, who Burt praised last week for her improved three-point shot and willingness to draw charges, put both of those talents on display Monday.

Browne scored 5 points and added five rebounds, two assists, a steal, drew two offensive fouls including a charge and went 1-3 from three-point range.

“She’s the queen of the charge,” Burt said. “To sacrifice your body like that, you can’t thank a kid enough to do that.”

Burt again praised Browne’s efforts to improve her outside shot and believes it will affect how opposing teams play defense against the Dukes in the future.

“It’ll be interesting to see how other people play us,” Burt said, “because if you don’t guard her at the 3-point line, she’s just as good a 3-point shooter as anybody that we have.”

As the game clock ticked down during a fourth quarter that saw the Dukes outscore Princeton 20-4, the crowd rose to their feet again and bombarded their now victorious squad with cheers.

“Home court advantage is huge,” McConnell said. “The people showed out and that was really important to us, it got our energy going.”

Next up for the Dukes is a Sunday trip to Happy Valley to take on Penn State, before returning to the bluff to take on Niagara on Nov. 16.