The Dukes strutted back out to their bus afterward — following a full-throated celebration in the visitors’ dressing room — with a 70-42 victory.
Meanwhile, Williams-Jeter minced no words with her team afterwards in a withering critique that questioned the players’ leadership capabilities, their effort and their pride.
Some players were left in tears the coach admitted, but nothing could wash away discomfiture of this defeat.
Dayton never led in the game.
The Flyers rebounded poorly; shot worse; turned the ball over more than twice as many times as did Duquesne; had seven of their shots blocked and were outscored in the paint 40-12.
Even last year, when the Flyers lost 21 of their 28 games, they were never outscored this badly. Over half of the losses in the 2022-23 season were by single digits, including six by four points or less, one in overtime and one in double overtime.
This game can be summed up by the Flyers third quarter effort when they had more turnovers (10) than points (8).
Twice before this season the Flyers lost by big margins — 42 points to perennial powerhouse UConn and 28 to a very good Davidson team — but both of those defeats came on the road.
This game was at home in front of a crowd of 2,249 that was still in the Christmas spirit, but ended up getting nothing but a lump of coal on the court.
With starter Tess Myers on the bench in street clothes due to an in injury and Indiana transfer Kiandra Browne suffering a game-ending leg injury after just a minute on the court, Duquesne still led by 32 with over eight minutes left and could have won by more had it not ended the game with backups on the court.
The loss drops UD to 6-7 this season, with a game at 2-11 UMass coming up Tuesday night.
After Saturday’s loss, Williams-Jeter said she told her team the performance was “unacceptable.”
“I told them they get taken care of very well here at UD,” she said as she stood just outside the dressing room. “I told them there are things they have that I haven’t had at other bigger institutions.
“They have charter flights. Their money comes on time. (The administrators) do a good job taking care of them. They want NIL deals and all that.
“But there’s a standard that comes with playing here. I don’t think they understand that.
“We’ve got kids who are banging on our windows to come here. We have recruits that are really good. We have a full roster coming in next year, so they can’t take this opportunity for granted. There are no guarantees.
“To perform like that — to not give effort — is unacceptable.
“There were some tears in there and there should have been. But they should have been upset when McConnell (Duquesne star Megan McConnell) was over clapping on our bench, clapping in their face.
“There should have been tears about our season last year. Right now, we’re a 13-win team (7 wins last year, 6 this season) in two years. If that doesn’t fire you up, nothing will…and you don’t need to be here.”
One glimmer of positivity did show up late in the game, when the Flyers young twin towers — 6-foot-4 freshmen Riley Rismiller and Eve Fiala — were on the court together.
With 2:46 left, Rismiller got the ball on the high post, wheeled around and hit Fiala inside, who then laid the ball in for just her second field goal of the season. The first one came against UConn.
She’s played less than 13 minutes total since that Nov. 8 opener — Rismiller has averaged 13.6 minutes a game and Saturday night got her first start — but the tandem effort was a glimpse of the future.
Fiala scored three points and grabbed three rebounds in just over five minutes of play Saturday. Rismiller played 18 minutes and had eight rebounds and six points.
“Eve was out there, and she was active and she’s long and she was making her presence felt,” Williams-Jeter said. “She’s our project kid, but she’s figuring it out. It looked like I should play her more now.”
As for the Flyers’ more veteran players, most struggled Saturday.
The team’s two leading scorers — Ivy Wolf (12.1 ppg) and Destiny Bohanon (9.8) — both had some medical issues affecting their play.
Wolf, who transferred from Miami following last season after playing two years with the RedHawks, starting all 60 games and averaging 14.9 p.p.g. — is battling plantar fasciitis. It kept her out of the Ohio Dominican game Dec. 17, but three days later she managed to play 38 minutes against Vanderbilt and lead the team with 18 points.
Against Duquesne, she missed all four of her shots and finished with two points.
Bohanon battled a migraine headache that made her nauseous. She finished with nine points, but went 3-for-14 from the floor.
Several other players struggled mightily and that led to the Flyers start-to-finish collapse against the Dukes.
With the hangover already throbbing a day early, Williams-Jeter was asked what she’d be doing on the real New Year’s Eve.
Once again, she didn’t mince words:
“I’ll be watching UMass (film)….and praying.”
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