CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The Duquesne women’s basketball team fell to North Carolina 62-58 in the quarterfinal round of the Preseason WNIT on Sunday evening.
Orsi Szecsi recorded a double-double of 17 points and a career-high of 13 rebounds. April Robinson scored 10 points and Jocelyn Floyd had four steals.
UNC’s Krista Gross scored 11 points and added 12 rebounds. Waltiea Rolle also had a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds. Tierra Ruffin-Platt scored a game-high 24 for the tar Heels who improved to 2-0.
The Dukes maintained a small lead through the first 10 minutes of the first half until Wumi Agunbiade’s jumper midway through the half started a 19-6 run that put the Dukes up 32-18 at the 6:56 mark capped by an Robinson 3-pointer.
North Carolina would trim the DU lead to nine points at 35-26 going into halftime.
Agunbiade’s early jumper gave Duquesne a double-digit advantage once again early in the second half, but the Tar Heels would slowly chip away at lead. After Danielle Butts’ field goal at the 12:03 mark of the half, UNC made it a one possession game at 46-44. This would be the last field goal North Carolina would score until there was 1:44 remaining in the contest.
However, during that time, the Dukes got into foul trouble resulting in UNC scoring their next 17 points from the foul line. By then, the Tar Heels had a five point lead at 60-55.
Duquesne was down two points after Belma Nurkic converted a pair of foul shot with 51 seconds remaining making the score 60-58. North Carolina called a timeout. Butts’ 3-point attempt was off and rebounded by Robinson. The Dukes called a timeout with 14 seconds to go, but Oditte Odisho’s jumper with six seconds remaining did not fall. UNC’s Brittany Roundtree was fouled and made both foul shots to close out the scoring at 62-58.
The WNIT will formally announce the Dukes’ next opponent and location by Monday.
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