HENRICO, Va. -- Duquesne has advanced to the Atlantic 10 Championship semifinals by holding off George Mason 63-62 Friday afternoon at the Henrico Sports & Events Center.
In a contest which featured nine different lead changes, the Dukes became the second lower-seeded team to triumph in this championship.
“That’s March Madness,” Duquesne coach Dan Burt assessed. “Obviously I’m very happy with our team’s grit and composure and maturity today. George Mason is a very well-coached team and they play incredibly hard. We knew that they would going to make their run and challenge us, but we burned the ships.”
Tess Myers led Duquesne with her 12 points, all of which came from three-point range. Precious Johnson and Jerni Kiaku scored 11 and 10 points respectively coming off of the bench. All-Conference First Team selection Megan McConnell had a rounded game consisting of eight points, 10 rebounds and six assists.
“We’re such a veteran group so we’ve been in this position a lot of times so we’ve been prepared for this moment,” stated McConnell. “When it’s time to shine, I think we have that group to pull through and we did today, so I’m really proud.”
George Mason saw another first team selection in Sonia Smith score a game high 24 points, while Paula Suarez contributed 17 points of her own.
"It was a very good game, we couldn't wait to play tonight, after a really good season," Patriots coach Vanessa Blair-Lewis explained. "It just didn't end the way we felt it should."
After conceding the first basket, Duquesne went on a 16-2 run over 4:42. The Dukes were dared to shoot from beyond the arc and sank a quarter of three-point field goals. When Bernard sank her second triple, the Dukes were up by 14 points.
A Smith jumper placed the Patriots back on track as they would score the next eight points of the period.
Myers put a stop to that run with her second triple of the period, but it was Ta’viyanna Habib who had the last word in the quarter draining a triple of her own. Even so, Duquesne’s lead was 21-15 after 10 minutes.
Myers opened the second-quarter scoring with another Dukes trifecta and in the transition game, she found Amaya Hamilton for another three pointer, placing Duquesne back in front by double digits. Duquesne would stretch the lead to 13 points when Megan McConnell raced down the court turning a defensive rebound into a jumper. The Dukes converted eight three-point shots in the first half and assisted on six of those baskets.
George Mason would chip into its deficit as the McConnell basket, her lone field goal of the quarter would be Duquesne’s last points of the opening half as it was held scoreless for the final 3:55 of the second period. The Patriots responded with a 7-0 run, cutting their deficit to 34-28 at halftime.
This run extended to 11-0 as George Mason converted on each of their first two trips down the court.
A chaotic quarter ended with Hamilton coming down with a gritty rebound and calmly sinking a pair of free throws, allowing Duquesne to lead 51-50.
Both teams battled to seize momentum and the Dukes appeared to be that team when Kiaku went off to the races after a steal. Her layup placed Duquesne up by three points, but that was short lived as Suarez rose and fired from three-point range, tying the contest.
Down by two points, Kiaku drove to the basket and was rewarded with a pair of free throws.
McConnell would find Johnson with 44 seconds left in regulation as she had an angle and utilized that edge to position herself towards the basket, where she rattled home a shot.
The Dukes got a key defensive stop, but with 8.4 seconds to play, they threw the ball away enabling George Mason to have the chance to tie or win the game.
Duquesne committed its foul to give with 1.2 seconds remaining and the Patriots had a look at the basket, but the shot fell just off the mark.
“I think it means everything,” Tess Myers said of winning and advancing. “I think we're the most connected we've been all year and we want it, so we're going to go out on the court and play for each other, for our coaches and this means a lot to us. We're going to give it our all, we've proven that and we're ready.”