Duquesne Women’s Basketball: Dukes Take On Mount St. Mary’s In WNIT Opener
By Larry Snyder
The chance to play and the opportunity to shine in March continues for the Duquesne University women’s basketball as they host a first round contest of the Postseason WNIT at home on Friday night. It marks the sixth consecutive postseason appearance for the program.
The Dukes (19-12, 10-6 Atlantic 10) will welcome Mount St. Mary’s (19-13, 13-5 NEC) to the A.J. Palumbo Center at 7 p.m. as part of the 17th-annual Women’s National Invitation Tournament. It will be the sixth all-time meeting between the two programs with Duquesne holding a 3-2 advantage in the series.
Credit: Duquesne Athletics
Senior forward Wumi Aqunbiade led the Dukes with 15.8 points per game to go along with 7.5 rebounds per game. She was named Second Team All-Atlantic 10 in 2013-2014. Senior guard Raegan Moore contributed 14.2 PPG and 23 blocks this season while sophomore guard April Robinson put up 10.8 PPG to go along with four assists per game.
The Mountaineers got the automatic bid to the WNIT by finishing second to Northeast Conference Tournament champion Robert Morris. It is the first postseason bid for Mount St. Mary’s since 1995 as it won nine of its last 11 games coming into the tournament.
Senior guard Sydney Henderson averaged 17.2 points and 5.2 rebounds per game for the Mountaineers. She was named First Team All-NEC. Junior guard Jacqueline Brewer contributed 10.7 PPG while senior forward Jessie Kaufman put up 8.9 PPG to go along with 3.8 rebounds.
The Mount joins North Carolina A&T, Quinnipiac and Stetson as the only programs to participate in both the Preseason and Postseason WNIT this season.
The winner of this match up will face the winner of the Michigan/Stoney Brook game in Round 2.
There will be an audio stream of the game on RedZoneMedia.com with Alex Panormios and Tad Maurey on the call. Live video will be available online on the Atlantic 10 Digital Network.