Inside the Dukes: Duquesne Has Block Party

Duquesne Women’s Basketball junior guard Reina Green was trying to make a play to beat a second quarter shot clock against Kent State, but she fell as her shot bounced hard off the front rim and that put the Golden Flashes on the run.

Green stumbled getting back off and then went off to the races, beating the ball into the post and then drawing one of many charges against Kent State, a clear energy play coach Dan Burt believes might be the best in that regard since Amadea Szamosi several years ago in the WNIT.

“I’m incredibly proud of our defenders because we defended at a very high-level tonight,” he explained. “We had communication, switches, were being physical, tough, taking charges and it all started with one play. I think that is play of the year for us.”

Indeed, Duquesne offered a defensive masterclass in a 58-53 victory over Kent State Monday night at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.

Part of that performance was containing Kent State to 28.6% from the field, 21.7 from three-point range and for a team who scores around a third of its points at the free-throw line, it took just eight shots from the charity stripe.

Green’s efforts, which were lauded by Burt were also lauded from Mackenzie Blackford, the sophomore guard, whose 19 points were one away from tying a career high.

“Reina her defensive energy really carried us a lot when we weren’t scoring,” offered Blackford. “The charges she drew I think really made them think twice about driving into the paint.”

As a freshman, Raevin Washington might have had her breakout performance with seven rebounds and several altered shots, but her five blocks were a huge factor in her team’s 10 swats overall.

“I’m so proud of her for that,” Blackford added. “That’s just a crazy stat, especially when they had some really quick guards, so some of us were getting beat a little bit and she was there.”

The 10 blocks are the most Duquesne has achieved in a game since March 1, 2023 against Loyola Chicago.

Throughout the season often it has been the offense leading the way, but unquestionably it was the defensive efforts, especially when weathering scoring a single point in the first quarter that set the tone.

If a ball was on the floor, Duquesne was often first on the floor and got rewarded for it, and that set the tone for what was to come.

“Our coaches said a lot about getting it done on the defensive end to get our offense going and I think we did a great job of that,” recalled Blackford. “We knew we were very prepared with our scout and we knew it was going to take everything we had on defense this game and I think that showed.”

BUILDING CONFIDENCE

It was not a good feeling for Duquesne after the Robert Morris setback this past Tuesday, but as per Burt’s mantra thinking about said setback ended at midnight.

Of course the loss was taken hard, but it was on Duquesne to turn the page which it was able to do.

Burt entrusted graduate assistant Cole McFadden with the scout and his work was praised as helping place Duquesne in a position where it could win.

Perhaps even more important than the scout itself was the players buying into it and implemeting it into the game on a consistent basis.

“Everyone did a great job of that and as a group we reviewed,” Blackford examined. “It was a great deal better. We didn’t let the loss get to us, we let it fuel us.”

Losses always have one of two effects. A team can play the blame game and behaviors do not change or players make a conscious decision to learn and grow.

Duquesne opted for door number two.

“Walking in as a team and not letting adversity separate us,” Harriet Ford summarized. “We took that loss pretty hard as a group and we got together.”

SEEING DOUBLE… DOUBLE… DOUBLE

Speaking of Ford, after missing the first two games of the season she has found form being the most dominant post in the three most recent contests.

The evidence? Three consecutive double-doubles and now a rebounding average of 9.5 a game. Additionally Ford averages 13.3 points per contest, while shooting 52.4% from the field.

“Coming back from the injury it was definitely tough building the confidence back, but this is such an amazing group of girls and the culture of our team has really helped me get that confidence back and believe in my game,” Ford said with a smile. “The coaches here, their belief in us as players is insane, so that’s been really nice.”

For Burt, Ford has resembled Bachman-Turner Overdrive as she clearly is taking care of business, fortunately for him she did not need to work overtime to do so.

“Harriet Ford is a walking double-double at this point,” proclaimed Burt. “We’ll ride that as much as we can. Every game is going to be a tough one because of our youth and playing a lot of people.”