Rhode Island Starters
Foppossi, Tahane, Williams, Cairns, Elmore

Duquesne Starters
McConnell, Bazelak, Pouye, Myers, Johnson

How it Happened
Dez Elmore scored 15 points in the second half to push the Rams past Duquesne 67-57 Wednesday night. The win was the fourth conference victory for the Rams, and the first win over the Dukes since 2017.

In URI's third game in five days, Duquesne jumped to a 9-2 lead by the first media timeout after taking advantage of the Rams sluggish offensive start. The Rams got things rolling using a 7-0 run to close out the quarter to stay in it, 11-9. 

An Elmore jumper gave Rhode Island its first lead in the second quarter (20-19). Rhody kept the momentum, despite the Dukes hanging around. Chanell Williams hit back-to-back shots from long range and layups from Marie-Paule Foppossi and Emmanuelle Tahane gave Rhody a 31-25 lead. Tess Myers banged a 3-pointer to send the Dukes into the half down three (31-28).

Duquesne stuck around in the third, using a 7-0 run to get within one (38-37). Elmore scored on back-to-back layups to close the quarter with Rhody maintaining a 44-42 lead. The Rams were smart defensively, not committing a single foul in the third quarter.

Elmore showed no signs of slowing down, scoring the first six points of the final period. The Rams held Duquesne without a field goal for 2:00 of the fourth to pull away with the win en route to their 14th victory of the year.

Inside the Box Score

• Grad senior Dez Elmore led all scorers with 19 points on 8-of-13. 15 of her points came in the second half. She filled her stat line with seven rebounds and five assists.
• Redshirt senior Emmanuelle Tahane scored 10 points and added eight rebounds
• Grad senior Chanell Williams added 14 points on 3-of-4 from 3-point land. She added four rebounds, three assists and a steal.
• Williams logged 33 minutes without committing a turnover. 
• Redshirt junior Marie-Paule Foppossi was the fourth Ram in double figures, pouring in 14 points and grabbing eight rebounds.
• Grad senior Anna Dreimane blocked four shots and had four rebounds in 10 minutes off the bench.
• Rhody scored 13 second chance points to the Duke's 7.
• The Rams held the advantage in rebounds (36-26) and points in the paint (36-20).
• It was the first win for URI over Duquesne since 2017, and the first win in UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.
• The Rams are 4-0 in league play for the first time since 1994-95.
• It's the first time Rhody has raked in 14 wins on the season since 2014-15.

Up Next
The Rams return home to the Ryan Center to host Davidson on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. The game will be streamed to ESPN+.