Published: January 02, 2008 10:55 pm            

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Duquesne women beat up on Niagara

LEWISTON — Kendra Faustin walked in the Niagara locker room Wednesday night and said that after months of practicing she still sees a team that can win.

The problem for the Purple Eagles is that hardly anybody else has seen the same thing lately.

Niagara dropped its fourth straight non-conference game Wednesday, losing 67-48 to the Duquesne Dukes. An announced crowd of 359 saw the Purple Eagles (3-10) lose their fifth consecutive game at the Gallagher Center.

The Purple Eagles again shot poorly, hitting just 33.9 percent (20 of 59) of their field goal attempts. They shot 15.4 percent (2 of 13) from 3-point range and were pitiful from the free throw line, making just 40 percent (6 of 15).

The Dukes (8-6) opened the game on a 17-7 run, built their eight-point halftime lead to as large as 21 points in the second half and posted their largest victory margin of the season.

“We didn’t do a whole lot well tonight,” said Faustin, the Purple Eagles’ first-year coach. “I know we’re capable of doing a lot of things that nobody else has any idea (of) because we haven’t done it in games.

“There’s been spurts, but unless we’re going to put it together for 40 minutes, we’re going to have a lot of nights like this.”

Jade Singleton scored a career-high 20 points on 10-of-13 shooting for Duquesne, which outscored Niagara 30-14 in the paint. Singleton also grabbed seven rebounds.

Sarah Wilson scored 15 points to lead Niagara. Erika Harris added 11 points, but turned the ball over five times and did not record an assist. Michelle Manfredi had five assists and no turnovers. Jaclyn Konieczka had a team-high five rebounds in just seven minutes.

The Purple Eagles resume Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play Sunday at St. Peter’s, giving Faustin and her staff a chance to make any necessary adjustments to be more competitive against conference foes than they’ve been so far.

Faustin said it’s an ideal time to make adjustments, since the classes haven’t yet resumed at Niagara. There’s also plenty of things Niagara won’t be changing.

“We need to do the little things that we work on every day,” she said. “Setting good screens, making good passes, making good decisions, reversing the basketball. Controlling the tempo is something we’re definitely going to work on.”

Fans we’ll get to see if any of that work leads to better results on Jan. 10 when Niagara returns to Monteagle Ridge to play Iona.

Contact reporter Jonah Bronstein at 282-2311, ext. 2258.

        

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