Duquesne Dukes fall to La Salle on senior day

Raegan Moore and Orsi Szecsi were two of four seniors recognized at Senior Day. The Dukes lost 68-63 to La Salle. Photo by Zachary Weiss

Duquesne women’s basketball coach Dan Burt sat still for two minutes following his post game press conference trying to process what had just happened.

His Dukes lost 68-63 to La Salle and fell to 17-11 on the season. The loss was the fifth in six games and ends a 2-5 month that eliminated any opportunity of winning the Atlantic 10 Conference.

“We’ve blown our chance,” Burt said. Our season has been a lot of what ifs and disappointments.”

The Dukes led 58-51 with five minutes to play, however La Salle which also was down by eight rebounds at the time, stormed back and also finished up two rebounds.

“As the game goes on things get a lot tougher, you’ve got to buckle down and we weren’t able to push the ball as effectively as we wanted to,” Wumi Agunbiade said. “That’s something I believe is more mental, we’re physically able to, but we have some things to work on for the A-10 Tournament.”

This ends a month of disappointment for the Dukes that included double digits leads of 10 vs George Washington and 22 at St. Bonaventure. In addition, Duquesne lost on a last second shot at St. Joseph’s.

To add to to all of those now is this loss.

“The story of our season is what you saw in the last five minutes of this game, at least the second half of the season,” Burt said. “Our inability to defend dribble penetration, to make a shot during crunch time and our lack of toughness when someone drives the lane and not knocking them down or stepping in and taking a charge.”

“That in a nutshell has been our month of January and February and that’s why we sit at 17-11. With having double digit leads at least against four other opponents and we’ve squandered those leads in the last eight, seven, five minutes.”

Duquesne started the game strong leading 12-3, however La Salle shot 45.8 percent from the field in the first half to the Dukes’ 28.2 percent clip. This allowed the Explorers to go into the locker room trailing 29-27.

La Salle continued this momentum, taking the lead immediately, however Duquesne then went on a 13-2 run to lead 44-34 with 14:25 to play. This lead held until midway through the half when the lead went down to six. The teams traded baskets, and after a Belma Nurkic three point play that was completed at the free throw line, the Dukes were on top 58-51 with 5:09 remaining in regulation.

The Explorers then went on a 10-0 run to seize control of the game and lead 63-58 with 38 seconds left. During this time the Dukes were out-rebounded and made two critical turnovers that would determine the fate of the game.

Despite advantages in points in the paint (38-36), points off turnovers (18-10), second chance points (11-10), fast break points (12-6), bench points (15-4), free throw percentage (75 percent to 73.3) and a 3:1 assist-turnover ratio, Duquesne lost this contest.

Agunbiade led the Dukes with 23 points and 11 rebounds while Raegan Moore added 15 points. Olivia Bresnahan had 10 points, seven rebounds and four assists for the Dukes. Michaya Owens had 23 points and eight rebounds for La Salle while teammates Jasmine Alston (16 points and eight rebounds), Alicia Cropper (13 points) and Leeza Burdgess (12 points and six rebounds) also contributed for the Explorers.

The game also served as senior day as Agunbiade, Orsi Szecsi, Raegan Moore and Oditte Odisho were honored for their accomplishments.

Burt thinks very highly of them and discussed their legacy and how it affects this season’s team.

“Those four kids are going to be very successful in life because they have every attribute to be successful. They’re driven in their studies, they’re personable and of high moral character,” Burt said. “They helped us achieve a program where 17-11 is not acceptable. These four are a big reason why that is not acceptable.”

The Dukes at 9-6 in the Atlantic 10 have a game Saturday at Rhode Island and likely will have to play four games in as many days in the Atlantic 10 Tournament.

“I think we have the ability to turn it around, but it’s up to them,” Burt said. “As a head coach, you can only coach so much effort out of someone. At some point, the effort has to be self-motivated.”