NEWS

 

PITTSBURGH – Elle Sutphin’s late free throws, Issy Morgan’s career-high 20 points and Maddie Plank’s fourth-quarter offense propelled the Davidson Wildcats to a 66-65 victory over the Duquesne Dukes Sunday afternoon in an Atlantic 10 women’s basketball instant classic.

Despite holding a nine-point advantage with 7:26 to go, Davidson’s lead shrunk quickly as the Dukes struck back with an 8-0 run to pull back within one, 56-55, with 4:31 remaining.

From there, Duquesne’s Tess Myers put the home team back in front 59-56 with her fourth of six made threes and began a shootout with Plank where the two exchanged five treys and a jumper with eight seconds remaining. Myers’ final three pushed the Dukes ahead 65-64, before Sutphin was able to seal the deal with two makes at the free throw line with just two seconds to go.

Morgan’s career-best outing came with four first-half three-pointers as the point guard finished the day with a 6-of-12 effort from the field for her third-straight double-digit performance. Plank ended the day with 15 points while Suzi-Rose Deegan and Sutphin also reached double figures, with 10 and 13 points, respectively.

The Dukes won the first quarter 20-15 before Davidson’s offense burst open in the second, outscoring Duquesne 26-11 to take a 10-point lead, 41-31, at the break. The Wildcats held Duquesne to just three made field goals in the second, while Morgan drained three of her four three-pointers in that same frame.

Davidson was scoreless for the first three minutes of the third quarter, before Deegan completed a three-point play to put the ‘Cats up 44-33 for their largest lead of the day. Duquesne began to chip away at its deficit in the third, sinking three treys to make it a three-point game at 49-46 with 1:57 remaining. But Morgan had one more layup left to secure a new career-high and give Davidson a four-point lead heading into the final 10 minutes of play.

Overall, the Wildcats shot 38.6 percent from the floor and drained 11 threes while Duquesne edged out Davidson on the glass 33-32.

Up Next
Davidson will return home on Wednesday, Jan. 25 for a 7 p.m. tipoff against Saint Louis from inside Belk Arena.