GLEN ALLEN, Va. -- The ninth-seeded Duquesne Dukes landed shot-after-shot in its 79-63 victory over the eighth-seeded Fordham Rams in the second round of the Atlantic 10 Women’s Basketball Championship on Thursday.  

Duquesne (19-11, 10-9) commanded an early lead over Fordham (15-14, 9-9) after the Dukes secured a 20-point lead at the half. The Dukes advance to face No. 1 seed Richmond in the quarterfinals on Friday at the Henrico Sports and Events Center.  

The Dukes’ high-powering offense fired on all cylinders. Nine players scored with Jerni Kiaku (21), Megan McConnell (17) and Andjela Matic (15) reaching double-digits. Duquesne shot 48.3 from the field, including shooting better than over 50 percent in the first three quarters.  

“When the ball goes into the basket, you tend to have that confidence and that rhythm that the next one is going to go down. And not just you as an individual but as a team,” Duquesne coach Dan Burt said. “... When those first couple of ones went down. I had a pretty good feeling it was going to be a good day for us.” 

Duquesne won the tip off, drove down the court for a layup and never wavered their lead. The Dukes were fueled by a standout first quarter in which Duquesne shot over 60 percent from the field and over 55 percent from beyond the arc. Duquesne commanded its lead on an 8-0 run by Duquesne over 1:38. The first run of the quarter led to an 11-point advantage. 

“I think just our preparation and focus. Leading up to this week has been really sharp and you couldn't have asked for us to start any better,” McConnell said of what went into the start of the game. “We always focus on punching first and we really did that today.” 

 Fordham struggled to land shots off of Duquesne’s dominant defense led by McConell, the A-10 Defensive Player of the Year. The Dukes forced four Fordham turnovers in the first quarter and converted it to eight points. The Rams shot 15 percent (3 of 20) from the field, which led to a 28-7 Duquesne lead at the end of the first.  

The Rams rebounded in the second and outscored the Dukes, 21-20. But Duquesne’s lead was too big to overcome. The Dukes ended the half with a 20-point lead and their 16-point third quarter sealed it for Duquesne. 

“We just talked about it not being easy. We knew [the Dukes] were going to go on a run. We didn’t expect for it to be in the first quarter,” Fordham coach Bridgette Mitchell said. “We talked about punching first, but [the Dukes] came out ready to go.”  

Fordham’s Irene Murua and Taylor Donaldson scored in double figures, 19 and 18 points, respectively. Murua grabbed 12 rebounds and Donaldson recorded eight.  

The Dukes dropped their two regular season losses to the Rams. Fordham defeated Duquesne by a combined five points in the Rams’ two regular season victories.  

“It’s hard to beat a team three times,” Mitchell said. “And we wanted to be able to do that. But our actions in that first quarter dug us in a hole.”