Duquesne women survive Miami (Ohio) rally, advance in WNIT

The season will continue for the Duquesne women’s basketball team after the visiting Dukes survived a late rally by Miami (Ohio) to record a 73-66 victory Sunday in the second round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament.

“Anytime you win in March, and you can say see you tomorrow, you feel really good about it,” coach Dan Burt said.

Duquesne (21-12) advances to the Super 16 for the second consecutive season and will play the winner of the Cleveland State/Coppin State game Friday at a site and time to be determined. Those teams are scheduled to play Tuesday.

Duquesne was ahead 61-47 after three quarters, but Miami responded to cut the deficit to seven before Duquesne junior Andjela Matic sparked a 7-3 run, hitting five free throws. Still, Miami punched back with a 7-0 run to make the score 70-66 with 1 minute, 23 seconds remaining.

Freshman Faith Walker’s block and rebound secured possession with 33 seconds to go to ensure the victory for Duquesne.

Both teams committed 19 turnovers.

“We didn’t play a great basketball game, and I think some of that had to do with Miami,” Burt said. “They led their conference (MAC) in defense, and we played really well in the first 2 1/2 quarters with only turning the ball over six times, but finished with 19. We got settled down later in the fourth quarter.”

Senior guard Megan McConnell (Chartiers Valley) made Duquesne history with six steals to become the program’s all-time leader (386). She also moved into second place on Duquesne’s all-time scoring list (1,764 points) after recording her 13th career 20-point performance (24). She also had nine rebounds and six assists.

Jerni Kiaku contributed 17 points, adding three rebounds, one steal and one block. Mackenzie Blackford scored 14 points off the bench, hitting 5 of 6 shots, including all four 3-point tries. Andjela Matic recorded 13 points, eight rebounds and three assists.