Addie Smith | Sports Editor
Women’s head basketball coach Dan Burt confirmed that freshman team member Erin Waskowiak was hit earlier this month in a car to pedestrian accident.
”We’re very concerned and we hope to see her back on campus soon,” Burt said.
Burt added that Waskowiak’s injury is a “pretty serious lower leg injury”, but he has faith in her ability to regroup and come back to the Duquesne community.
UPMC said last week that Waskowiak is now in “good” condition in the hospital.
Burt wouldn’t say how long she would be out, but students said her dad was carting her things out of Towers Wednesday.
Waskowiak helped Bishop Canevin high school to a WPIAL and state title and chose Duquesne over the likes of the Syracuse University and the University of Delaware.
Waskowiak’s high school coach Tim Joyce coached her at Bishop Canevin all four years and said that he has faith that she’ll recover and play for Duquesne eventually.
”She’ll recover, she’s a hard worker,” Joyce said. “She has a good attitude about things like this. She’ll rehab hard, she’ll be ready to play.”
Joyce also said that she had a few traits that would make her ready for the college basketball atmosphere
”Her athleticism [would help her in college], her attitude, she’s 5-foot-11 and has long arms,” Joyce said. “She just has a great attitude about the game and a real desire.”
She was selected to the Post-Gazette’s Fabulous Five and the Tribune-Review’s Terrific Ten her senior year. Waskowiak started all four years at Bishop Canevin and committed to Duquesne under former head coach Suzie McConnell-Serio as a three-star recruit.
Joyce said that she could have brought a multitude of things to the Duquesne women’s basketball team this season.
”Number one; she’s very athletic,” Joyce said. “Number two; she knows what it takes to win. She’s an unselfish player, her senior year we won the state championship and she scored less points than she had the prior three years. We became a better team, we distributed the ball, she was very unselfish.”
In her senior year at Bishop Canevin, Waskowiak averaged 16 points, 8 rebounds, 8 steals and 7 assists per game, taking over a Jocelyn Floyd like role for the Crusaders.
Without Waskowiak, the Dukes will still have returnees Belma Nurkic, April Robinson, Raegan Moore and Oditte Odisho as well as newcomers Olivia Bresnahan, Brianna Thomas and Angela Heintz in the guard position.
The women’s team opens preseason play on Nov. 1.
Pat Higgins contributed reporting.
