LORETTO, Pa. – Alex Gensler scored 24 of her career-high 33 points in the first half to lead the Duquesne women’s basketball team to a season-opening victory over Saint Francis, Pa. 74-70 on Friday night. Gensler finished the game 12-of-20 from the floor including a school record eight 3-pointers.
Vanessa Abel added 16 for the Dukes who improve to 5-0 in season-openers under head coach Suzie McConnell-Serio.
Alli Williams scored a team-high 22 for the Red Flash.
Gensler and the Dukes started out on fire taking an early 13-2 lead heading into the first media timeout with Gensler scoring 11.
The Dukes’ largest lead of the game was at 19 points at 23-4 at the 13:40 mark while making 9-of-13 shots for 69.2 percent.
SFU would slowly chip away at the DU lead and by the 4:17 mark, the Red Flash cut the deficit to five points at 37-32.
A layup by Abel with 1:08 left gave the Dukes a 13 point lead at 45-32 before a pair of baskets from Williams and Allison Smith sent the game into halftime at 45-36.
Saint Francis would start the second half on a 12-2 run to get its first lead of the game 48-47 at the 13:18 mark.
The game would see five ties and three lead changes as a Wumi Agunbiade layup with 5:46 remaining broke a 64-64 tie to put the Dukes up for good. SFU would get within two points twice, but missed three foul shots and two field goals – including a 3-pointer – in the game’s final 55 seconds.
“We came out at the beginning of the game with Alex single-handedly carrying our team,” said McConnell-Serio. “We played with a lot of energy defensively, which created opportunities.”
The Dukes finished with 23 points off 20 Red Flash turnovers.
“Alli Williams is a very good player, she’s a very tough matchup. She is very crafty with the ball and is a very smart player and knows how to score,” added Coach Serio.
Williams was 9-of-14 shooting and pulled down a team-high six rebounds.
The Dukes’ next game in Monday night against Buffalo in the home opener. Tipoff is at 7:00 p.m.
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