PITTSBURGH, Pa. – On the back of a record-setting performance by senior Megan Zullo (Greenville, N.C./Farmville/N.C. State), the UMass women’s basketball team was within two at the intermission, but could not hold off a second half run by Duquesne, falling 76-62 at the A.J. Palumbo Center on Wednesday night. Following the loss, the Minutewomen are now 6-14 overall and 1-4 in the Atlantic 10, while the Dukes remain a perfect 11-0 at home this season and move to 15-5 overall and 3-2 in conference play.
Zullo scored a season-high 21 points, her fifth career 20-point game, making 7-for-10 from beyond the arc to tie the program single game record. Junior Jasmine Watson (South Bend, Ind./South Bend Washington) followed, scoring nine and grabbing three steals. Freshmen Aisha Rodney (Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich./Grosse Pointe South) and Kim Pierre-Louis (Ottawa, Ontario/St. Paul Catholic) chipped in with eight points apiece off the bench and senior Emilie Teuscher ( Miamisburg, Ohio/Miamisburg) logged a team-high six rebounds and six steals to go along with seven points.
After Duquesne began the contest with a 7-0 lead, Zullo drained a pair of threes to close the gap to one. The Minutewomen trailed, but remained within striking distance over the next 6:14 before pulling in front for the first time on a Rodney jumper at the 9:10 mark.
Zullo’s fifth trey of the night put UMass up 22-19 with 6:11 on the clock, prompting a timeout by the Dukes. Upon resuming, Duquesne strung together an 11-0 run to build the largest advantage of the period, eight, with 2:23 left. Following a fastbreak bucket by Rodney and a pair of free throws by Carly Vendemia for the Dukes, UMass closed out the half with six straight points to close the gap to 32-30 at the intermission. Pierre-Louis scored four of those six upon entering the action at the 1:48 mark.
That was as close as the Minutewomen would come, though. Aided by 11 points from Alex Gensler over the first 7:57 of the second half, Duquesne outscored UMass 22-8 over that span, beginning with a 9-0 run. The Minutewomen trailed by 12 or more for the remainder of the contest.
Gensler finished with a game-high 23 points for the Dukes, including 17 in the second half, and dished four assists. Wumi Agunbiade followed with a double-double on 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Orsi Szecsi chipped in 13 points and Vendemia had 10 points.
UMass shot 40.4% (21-52) overall on the night, including an 11-for-22 (50.0%) clip in the first half. The Minutewomen were 8-for-15 (53.3%) from three-point range and made 12-of-21 (57.1%) free throws. Duquesne finished 28-for-60 (46.7%) overall, 5-for-16 (31.3%) from beyond the arc and converted 15-for-20 (75.0%) at the charity stripe.
UMass will be back in action at home this coming Saturday, Jan. 28, playing Fordham in the second half of a men’s-women’s doubleheader. Tip off is slated for 5 p.m. at the Mullins Center.
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