Dukes dominate City Game
Runs string against Panthers to 8 wins in past 9 meetings
When Julijana Vojinovic arrived at Duquesne from Cacak, Serbia, the name ‘Pitt’ and the concept of a rivalry with a school separated by 2 miles of asphalt from her own failed to resonate with her.
Quickly enough, through conversations with her teammates and coaches from the region and elsewhere across the country, she began to grasp what it means.
“I see all my American teammates … they’re all hyped before every game. But this game means so much to them,” she said. “Being with them and coaches, I experience it the same as them. It’s just always so nice to beat them because we’re better than them.”
Those final words, brash as they might seem, are understandable from Vojinovic’s standpoint. In her time at Duquesne, it’s all she has known. And Thursday night, that trend continued as the program that has become increasingly synonymous with women’s basketball in Pittsburgh tightened its grip on that honor.
Behind a game-high 23 points from Vojinovic and a largely unflinching defensive effort, the Dukes defeated crosstown rival Pitt, 66-53, in the City Game at Petersen Events Center.
The victory was the most recent in what is becoming a suddenly lopsided series. Duquesne has won eight of the past nine meetings between the schools, with each of those wins coming by at least eight points. The first four of those victories for the Dukes (2-1) came under current Pitt coach Suzie McConnell-Serio, who coached them from 2007-13.
“I don’t care what anybody says; I say it every year — it’s the City Game,” Duquesne coach Dan Burt said. “It matters. I don’t care what anyone says. It matters and it is a little bit more important. It matters. We’re just happy we got the W tonight.”
Vojinovic, a junior guard, led a group of eight Duquesne players who scored, a relatively widespread performance also paced by Chassidy Omogrosso, Helmi Tulonen and Kadri-Ann Lass, each of whom had nine points. Omogrosso, the shortest player between the two teams at 5 feet 4, also had eight rebounds. As a team, the Dukes were 8 of 14 from 3point range.
By contrast, the Panthers (2-1) struggled for much of the night offensively. Yacine Diop, a Seton La Salle graduate, and center Kalista Walters finished with 22 and 21 points, respectively, for Pitt. Their six other teammates who saw the court, though, combined for just 10 points on 4-of-30 shooting (13.3 percent).
“I think that was the difference in the game,” McConnell-Serio said. “You all watched it. If we hit open shots, we’re in the ballgame and we give ourselves a chance.”
Over a stretch of 9:18, nearly an entire quarter, Pitt made just one of its 14 shots and scored two points, a drought that put it in an eight-point hole at halftime. After the Panthers got within five in the third, Duquesne halted that momentum¸ scoring 12 of the game’s next 13 points, a spurt capped by a 3pointer from Omogrosso to push the lead to 16.
For the Dukes, the joy of beating their crosstown rival for a fourth consecutive season was evident. For the Panthers, the disappointment of a loss was there, even if they know they have four more months of games to move past a non-conference setback.
“It really is a tough situation for us and I think our men would feel the same way,” McConnell-Serio said. “We’re supposed to win. We’re a BCS school and they’re not. When they beat us, it’s a big deal. But we’re supposed to win. It’s a worse loss for us than if they would lose to us. I’ve been in that situation; I’ve been on both sides of this equation. It’s a tough game for teams like this to play because of the perception. But they’re a good team. That’s a program that has come a long way.”
In some ways, concerns about the game itself and its end result took a back seat to logistical qualms. A game that is often played several weeks into the season was the third game of the 2017-18 campaign for both squads, a time in which many sports fans are getting acclimated to the start of college basketball season.
As women’s basketball fights for attention in a crowded market, Burt hopes this year is an exception.
“We think this game should be a jewel,” he said. “It should be played on a weeknight where there isn’t a Steelers game and there is more media coverage. We want to increase women’s basketball in Western Pennsylvania. We would prefer to play this on a Friday or Saturday evening or a Sunday afternoon, a little later in the year when both teams are better.”