Duquesne women prepare for A-10 tournament, hope to set aside late-season losses

Dan Burt’s patience and determination were tested in 2017 when he finished the Pittsburgh Marathon in less than seven hours.

Perhaps that prepared him for the upcoming week when he must wait four days — and sit with the memory of two tough losses — to send his Duquesne women’s basketball team back onto the court to recapture good feelings that existed for most of the season.

After winning 13 of it first 16 Atlantic 10 games, Duquesne stumbled in the last two regular-season games, losing to Richmond, the top seed in the A-10 Tournament, 90-74, and No. 3 Saint Joseph’s, 77-73, at home Saturday on Senior Day.

“Yes, we’ve lost two in a row but we need to understand we just played the best two teams in the league,” Burt said, “and just came up a bit short. We have to put this aside and understand that the new season begins on Monday.”

That’s when Burt will gather his team for preparations for its first A-10 Tournament game at 1:30 p.m. Thursday against the La Salle/UMass winner at the Henrico (Va.) Sports and Events Center.

Duquesne (18-11, 13-5) is the No. 5 seed. Each conference loss came at the hands of the league’s top four teams, Richmond, No. 2 VCU, Saint Joseph’s (twice) and No. 4 George Mason.

Other than that, it’s been one of Burt’s best seasons among his 11 as head coach. Still ahead is the possibility of reaching 20 victories for the sixth time.

Burt describes the root of his team’s success with the words, “Everybody eats.”

“We’re very balanced,” he said. “Our shot distribution is very even across the board. On any given night, it can be a post player, it can be a guard who will lead us in scoring.”

Five players average at least 8.1 points, led by Chartiers Valley graduate Megan McConnell (13.2).

“She’s been terrific all year long,” Burt said.

You can’t mention McConnell without referencing her family that includes (among others) Aunt Suzie McConnell-Serio, an All-American at Penn State and Olympic gold medalist, brother T.J., who plays for the NBA’s Indiana Pacers, and her dad, Tim, who won eight WPIAL championships coaching boys and girls at Chartiers Valley.

No wonder Burt describes her as having “an incredibly high basketball IQ … knowing where the ball is and having great anticipation skills as compared to other people. She plays very hard on every possession. She’s been one of the best players in the Atlantic 10.”

After averaging 38.4 minutes per game, she was named to the A-10 all-conference first team, All-Defensive team and All-Academic team, as voted on by the league’s coaches..

“She’s someone who never gets tired and doesn’t need to come off the floor,” Burt said. “When you have someone who puts up the statistics that she does, I’d be crazy to take her off the floor. She’s not showing any signs of wear and tear.

“As we go into the conference tournament, we’ll try to find her a couple minutes (of rest) here and there as we can.”

Burt has recruited internationally throughout his time at Duquesne, but he said he also is committed to finding the best players from the WPIAL and within two hours of campus.

North Catholic graduate Tess Myers, whose father, Joe, played at Burrell and Duquesne, is shooting 37.6% from beyond the 3-point arc while averaging 8.2 points.

Thinking like a coach, Burt is especially pleased with Myers’ improved defense.

Winchester Thurston graduate Ayanna Townsend averages 8.1 points, and Mars’ Lauren Wasylson leads the team in 3-point shooting percentage (45.7%, 21 of 46).

Amaya Hamilton, a 6-foot-2 guard, averages 9.6 points and is the only player other than McConnell to start every game.

Burt still likes crossing the border, however.

• Naelle Bernard of France is second in scoring (10.0) and first in 3-pointers (69).

• Precious Johnson, a 6-4 senior center from Sweden, has 33 blocks, .

• French Guiana, Bosnia and Canada also are represented.

“More and more schools are going overseas,” he said. “Six or seven were going overseas 10 years ago. Now 70 to 80 are going over for the European championships.”