Tough Defense Leads Women’s Basketball To Cruise Past Duquesne, 74-57

Sunday, December 3

Pittsburgh, Pa.

2 PM

University of Delaware

4-3,0-0CAA

Duquesne

3-3,0-0Atlantic 10

Delaware

Duquesne

Photo by: NIC TERRY PRODUCTIONS

Tough Defense Leads Women’s Basketball To Cruise Past Duquesne, 74-57

12/3/2023 4:22:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – That's three in a row! Behind another 20+ point performance by Tara Cousins and hard-nosed team defense, the University of Delaware women's basketball team cruised past Duquesne (3-3) capturing a 74-57 road win. With the win, the Blue Hens are now 4-3 on the young season.

HEN HIGHLIGHTS

Cousins tied her career high of 23 points off 9-of-11 shooting from the field including 3-of-5 from deep and a pair of free throws. She also added four rebounds and contributed two assists to the win.
Cousins was one of three Blue Hens in double figures.
Klarke Sconiers finished with 16 points off 6-of-13 shooting, led the team with six rebounds and sent away two shots.
Sydney Boone followed behind with 15 points off 5-of-12 shooting from the field.
Delaware finished the afternoon shooting 44.2 percent (23-52) from the field, 41.7 percent (5-12) from beyond the arc and 76.7 percent (23-30) from the free throw line.
The Blue Hens finished with 10 assists, seven steals, nine bench points, 28 points in the paint, 15 fast break points, 14 second-chance points off of eight offensive rebounds and 21 points off of 18 Duke turnovers.

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Quarter

Both teams held marginal leads throughout the first quarter.
The Blue Hens led by as much as four (6-2 lead with 8:15 in the quarter) and the Dukes led by as much as two (20-18 lead with 1:30 to go in the quarter).
Delaware would come away with a 21-20 lead at the end of the first thanks to a three-point basket from Boone with 35 seconds remaining.

Second Quarter

Delaware started the quarter off with seven straight unanswered points. The run started with a Sconiers hook and finished with an Ande'a Cherisier free throw with 6:13 in the quarter. After their run was broken with a Duke three-pointer, the Blue Hen defense locked down Duquesne offense and didn't allow a single point for the rest of the quarter.
The Blue & Gold held the Dukes to 1-of-15 shooting from the field and 1-of-8 shooting from deep.
Delaware went into the half with a 40-23 lead, and outscored Duquesne 19-3 in the quarter.

Third Quarter

Duquesne came out of the half and cut the Blue Hens lead down to 49-36 with just over four minutes remaining in the quarter.
Delaware would take the 13-point lead heading into the fourth quarter up 55-42.
Six of the Blue Hens third quarter points came from the charity stripe, shooting at a perfect 100 percent clip.

Fourth Quarter

The Dukes wouldn't go down without a fight and cut the Blue Hen lead to as little as 55-45 with 8:55 remaining in the game.
Delaware immediately shut the Duke's comeback efforts and went on a 14-6 run with 5:41 to go. The run started with a Boone driving layup and was finished with a pair of Sconiers free throws with just over a minute to go.
Boone had five points during the run, while Chloe Wilson, Cousins, Sconiers and Nakiyah Mays-Prince each contributed points.

GAME NOTES

Sunday was the fourth-ever matchup between the Blue Hens and the Duke's.
The Blue Hens captured their first win against the Dukes since Dec. 30, 2012.
It is also the first time they've ever defeated Duquesne in Pittsburgh.
This is the third straight game, and the fourth time over the last five, where Cousins scored 20 or more points.
During the five-game stretch, Cousins has averaged 21.2 points, shooting the ball at 56.7 percent from the field (42-of-74) and 48 percent from deep (19-39).
The last time Duquesne was held to 57 points this season was against Princeton (57-65).

UP NEXT
The Blue Hens return to the First State and will welcome former conference foes Old Dominion on Thursday, Dec. 7 inside Bob Carpenter Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcast simultaneously on FloHoops and Delmarva Sports Network.

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