PITTSBURGH – Led by the senior duo of Tiffany Padgett and Kara Wright, the George Mason women's basketball team put up a fight in the opening round of the Atlantic 10 Women's Basketball Championship.

But the Patriots couldn't fend off Duquesne in the second half, resulting in a 66-55 season-ending loss on Saturday at the A.J. Palumbo Center. Padgett tied a career high with 20 points and Wright added 18 to go along with six rebounds apiece.

Despite the senior tandem's best efforts, No. 10 seed Mason (13-17) struggled to keep pace with No. 7 seed Duquesne (16-14) in the second half. The Patriots held a 23-21 lead at halftime but the Dukes scored 45 points after halftime to advance to the quarterfinals against No. 2 seed George Washington on Friday at the Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, Va.

"We've made great, great strides over the course of the year much (because) of these two seniors (Padgett and Wright) sitting beside me," Mason head coach Nyla Milleson said. "They came into a tough situation the last three years and they've bought in and believed in what we were doing. We've got a really good group of returners, a group of young freshmen, who are hungry. We'll get back to work when it is time to do that. It is a tough moment right now. The story of what our season has been - our defense has improved immensely. But all year long we've had one bad quarter. And we've just not shot the ball very well. That was the tale again today."

Duquesne used a 16-4 run over the last 5:41 of the third quarter to take control. Angela Staffileno's 3-pointer gave the Dukes a 33-24 lead heading into the final period. Duquesne then scored the first five points of the fourth period to push the lead to 14 with 9:02 remaining. Mason wouldn't get closer than 11 after that.

The Patriots appeared to have momentum in the first half, limiting the Dukes to just 24.2 percent shooting (8-of-33) over the first 20 minutes. Mason led by as many as five and took a two-point lead into halftime on Padgett's driving layup with 4.3 seconds left.

"Going into halftime, we went into the locker room and the energy was up," Padgett said. "We felt like we had more than a chance and opportunity to go to Richmond after that. I felt like the energy was still up (early in the third quarter) and we could push it up even more... We just had a little moment of breakdown that we've been struggling with all season. It put our energy down for I guess the rest of the game. It is something we've been battling with."

Amadea Szamosi led Duquesne with 14 points as three players scored in double figures. Mason limited the Dukes to just 24.2 percent shooting (8-of-33) in the first half. But Duquesne found its shooting touch in the second half, shooting 55.5 percent (20-of-36).

Mason shot just 31.7 percent from the field and failed to score less than 60 points for the ninth time in its last 10 games. Padgett was 9-for-19 from the field and scored in double figures for the fourth time in five games. Wright was 8-for-10 from the free-throw line and scored in double figures for a team-high 26th time this season.

Freshman Alexsis Grate added eight points, a career-high tying three steals and two assists. Fellow freshman Jacy Bolton had eight rebounds and tied career highs with four assists, three steals and two blocks. Senior Bridget O'Donnell also had three blocks.

"Everybody in that locker room fought hard," Wright said, "and everybody left everything out on the floor."