By Natalie Fiorilli | The Duquesne Duke
George Washington—the team to snap the Duquesne women’s basketball team’s 15-game winning streak earlier this season—ended Duquesne’s run at an Atlantic 10 Tournament Championship Sunday afternoon.
Senior guard Deva’Nyar Workman racked up 19 points, six rebounds and five assists in the 63-60 Duquesne loss in the tournament final against George Washington. Freshman forward Angela Staffileno scored 11 points off the bench, tallying four rebounds. Freshman forward Kadri-Ann Lass had 10 points for the Red & Blue.
“They allowed us to shoot the three early, and we took it, but when they really guarded, we go one for nineteen, and it ends up 63-60,” coach Dan Burt said. “As a team, we’re in a circumstance where the people who play the majority of our minutes, we have one or two players who drive the ball. We rely on the three.”
A pair of three-pointers from junior forward Amadea Szamosi and senior guard April Robinson gave the Dukes a 6-0 start to the first quarter. A Duquesne scoring drought propelled the Colonials to tie the game, but a Szamosi jumper with 15 seconds remaining gave Duquesne a 15-13 advantage heading into the second quarter.
There were 10 lead changes and five ties in the second quarter, but five unanswered points in the final minute had Duquesne on top, 41-34, at halftime.
The Dukes held off the Colonials until the final minute of the third quarter, when a George Washington layup tied the score at 52-52 with 19 seconds to go. Robinson would knock down a 3-pointer with two seconds left to bring the Dukes up 55-52 to close out the quarter.
At the 5:28 mark of the fourth quarter George Washington took the lead and began a 6-0 run, leading 63-57 with nearly two minutes left. Duquesne would bring the score within three points with 18 seconds remaining, but were unable to tie the game as the clock timed out on a final attempt beyond the arc by Robinson.
Despite its loss in the final, third-seeded Duquesne has a shot at a bid to the 2016 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship. The full list of teams to compete in the upcoming tournament will be announced on March 14.
