Sophomore guard Belma Nurkic will have to land the majority of her 3-pointers tonight for the Dukes to advance to the second round of the WNIT.
Addie Smith | Sports Editor
The Duquesne women’s basketball team received a bid to play in the WNIT after not being selected to advance to the NCAA Tournament Monday evening.
Now, the Dukes will need to refocus for their opponent in the University of Akron Zips, who went 23-9 overall and 12-4 in the Mid-American Conference.
Coach Suzie McConnell-Serio said that although the Dukes made the WNIT, they were hoping for more.
“I have to admit, we are very disappointed,” McConnell-Serio said. “Since I’ve been here, we’ve tried to improve our schedule, improve the things that we needed to do and build on previous success … This was finally the year that we thought we had done enough.”
In the end, the Dukes didn’t do enough for the people on the NCAA committee who chooses who advances and ended up a No. 2 seed in their region in the WNIT.
This is the Dukes’ fifth year in a row making only the WNIT, last year they were eliminated in the first round to Cincinnati.
The Dukes will take on the Zips tonight at the A.J. Palumbo Center at 7 p.m. The Dukes are 4-1 against the Zips, including two wins during the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons.
Keys to the game
Junior forward Orsi Szecsi will need to have a great game in order for the Dukes to come out on top of the Zips. In the last matchup between the two teams, Szecsi scored 23 points to help the Red and Blue come out on top, 77-70.
The Dukes will have to expect that Akron will guard junior forward Wumi Agunbiade intensely and attempt to pass off some of the scoring to other players. Expect sixth-year senior Vanessa Abel and freshman guard April Robinson to bank more shots for the Red and Blue.
Prediction
Ultimately, the Dukes should win this battle and move onto the second round of the WNIT.
