Dukes and Latt Lift Davidson to 56-50 Road Win

Sunday, January 17

Richmond, Va.

6:00 p.m.

Davidson College Athletics

8-10, 2-3 A-10

VCU (CBS Sports Network)

13-5, 2-3 A-10

Davidson

VCU

Photo by: Tim Cowie - DavidsonPhotos.com

Dukes and Latt Lift Davidson to 56-50 Road Win

1/17/2016 9:36:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Gavin McFarlin - Assistant SID

Box Score (pdf)
DavidsonPhotos.com

RICHMOND, Va. — Senior Dakota Dukes and sophomore Mackenzie Latt scored 18 points apiece and Davidson used a big run before holding off a late VCU rally to score a 56-50 road win Sunday evening at the Stuart C. Siegel Center in Atlantic 10 women's basketball action.

Davidson picked up its second A-10 win (2-3) and improved to 8-10 overall. VCU fell to 13-5, 2-3 in league play.

Dukes finished with 11 rebounds for her team-leading fourth double-double of the season and she along with Latt hit a combined 15-of-24 shots to lead the 'Cats to 44.9 percent shooting for the game.

Down 29-28 at the break, Davidson used a 22-8 run that spanned the entire third quarter and into the start of the fourth to grab a 50-37 lead. The Wildcats started the third by scoring nine of the first 12 points and went on to outscore VCU, 17-8, for the quarter.

Justine Lyon (nine points) drained a three-ball and two free throws by Dukes started the fourth for the 'Cats, making it a 13-point lead with 7:36 left.

Davidson then had to weather a cold streak as VCU trimmed its lead all the way down to 52-50 after back-to-back triples by Isis Thorpe and a layup from Adaeze Alaeze with 1:02 left.

Thorpe paced the Rams with 17 points, hitting 5-of-11 shots from downtown.

The 'Cats sealed up the last minute though, with Dukes rebounding her own missed field goal on the next possession which forced VCU to foul. Latt and Lyon each sank a pair of free throws for the final six-point victory.

Davidson had a 36-32 rebounding edge and held VCU to 32.2 percent shooting from the floor. The Wildcats scored a game-high 30 points in the paint.

A 9-0 run by the Wildcats in the first quarter turned a 7-4 deficit into a 13-7 lead. Latt scored six of those points. Three late three-pointers by VCU kept it close before a Saadia Timpton free throw closed out the quarter, with Davidson up 17-16.

Davidson scored the first bucket of the new quarter, but saw the Rams run off a 7-0 run to take back the lead at 23-19 with 6:27 left. Later, VCU's fifth triple of the half made it 29-24, but the 'Cats got buckets from Dukes and Lyon in the final 1:40 of the quarter to close within 29-28 at halftime. Davidson finished the half shooting 46.2 percent (12-26).

The 'Cats return home for a 7 p.m. contest next Wednesday, Jan. 20, for their second meeting against Fordham this year.

GAME NOTES: This was the third meeting all-time between the two schools and the first win for the Wildcats in the series … Dukes has 14 career double-doubles … Latt has scored in double figures in 21 of her past 26 games … the double-figure scoring game was Latt's team-best 14th, while Dukes tallied her 12th … Davidson has outrebounded its opponents 10 times this year … it was the eighth time the 'Cats held an opponent to under 35 percent shooting for the game.