Dukes, Penn State win their respective postseason contests

Nittany Lions are in the quarterfinals

Duquesne women’s basketball was on the ropes again.

But the Dukes (21-12) found a way as Duquesne rallied to a 69-65 overtime victory against Monmouth (22-10) on Monday in the second round of the WNIT at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.

Four Dukes finished in double figures, led by Megan McConnell. She posted her ninth doubledouble of the year, with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Precious Johnson recorded 15 point. She tallied seven rebounds and two blocks. Jerni Kiaku finished with 12 points while totaling five rebounds, two steals, and one block. Wasylson was the final Duke to reach double digits, registering 11 points.

Out of a Dukes timeout, senior Amaya Hamilton would collect her own missed layup with a putback to give Duquesne a two-point advantage with 21 seconds left. The Hawks were called for an illegal screen on the following possession as Wasylson sealed the deal with a pair of free throws in the end, 69-65.

Getting to overtime wasn’t easy.

After a pull-up jumper from Ariana Vanderhoop gave the Hawks a 59-51 advantage with 1:03 remaining in regulation, Duquesne would respond in a big way. Duquesne’s Lauren Wasylson would go on a 9-1 run by herself to knot the score and send the game into overtime.

After a timeout from Duquesne advanced the ball, Wasylson was fouled again behind the 3-point line. She buried all three from the free-throw line and knotted the score at 60 with 29 seconds left in regulation.

Duquesne moves on to the Super 16, where it travels to West Lafayette, Ind., to play Purdue (14-18) at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Penn State

Penn State women’s basketball is moving on to the Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament quarterfinals.

Host Penn State handled Belmont at the Bryce Jordan Center on Monday with a 74-66 victory to keep its season alive.

Fifth-year guards Makenna Marisa (Peters Township) and Ashley Owusu remained steady presences offensively for the squad, finishing with 18 and 16 points, respectively.

The Lady Lions (21-12) will advance to play one last game at the BJC this season in another WBIT matchup. This time it’ll be against Mississippi State (23--11) at 6 p.m. Thursday.

Both sides had a slow offensive start, especially from deep, but were knotted at 14 after a quarter.

A 7-0 run after halftime put Penn State in it, and its full-court press was paying off. With 2:45 remaining in the third, Belmont (26-9) failed to get the ball past halfcourt in time, which led to Owusu’s 13th and 14th points of the night on a second-chance opportunity.

“They did a good job of pressuring,” Belmont coach Bart Brooks said. “I thought we had people open down the floor and we couldn’t see it.”

The BJC crowd came to life in the third quarter, applauding the squad as Penn State entered a timeout with a 48-41 advantage.

And Penn State was able to able to hold on.