Olivia Bresnahan

PITTSBURGH — While no longer a basketball player for Duquesne, Olivia Bresnahan continues to impact the Dukes.

The Butler graduate served as a graduate assistant coach this season as the Dukes received a berth in the NCAA Women’s Tournament for the first time in the program’s 43-year history.

Duquesne (27-5) received an at-large bid as a No. 9 seed and will face eighth-seeded Seton Hall (23-8) at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. The game will be televised live on ESPN2.

“This has been an awesome experience, as a player and now a coach, seeing how much this program has developed and how far it’s come,” Bresnahan said.

A two-year starter for the Dukes, Bresnahan was a senior captain of last year’s team that finished 23-11. She averaged 7.8 points per game and started 54 of 56 games at guard while at Duquesne.

Five players on this year’s Duquesne team were teammates of Bresnahan’s last year.

“(Coach) Dan (Burt) asked me if it would be weird for me coaching players I was teammates with,” Bresnahan said. “Being a captain last year, I feel like I already had their respect and that helped with the transition.”

And, clearly, Bresnahan has had a positive effect on this year’s squad.

She worked closest with guards April Robinson and Chassidy Omogrosso. Robinson, a senior, led the team with 14.9 points and 6.4 assists per game. Omogrosso, a freshman, averaged 8.8 points per contest. Duquesne has four players averaging in double figures this season.

“Everybody on this team worked so hard to get to this point,” Bresnahan said. “Everyone played a role and played it well. Everything just fit together.

“I knew we were talented coming into the season. With so many new faces, it was a matter of seeing how well things would mesh.”

The Dukes have eight newcomers on this year’s team, including seven freshmen.

Players, coaches, and team supporters gathered at PNC Park to watch the selection show for the NCAA Women’s Tournament.

“We expected to find maybe 100 people in the room when we got there,” Bresnahan said of the team. “We walk in and there’s 400 people in there.

“It was unbelievable, seeing so much support for the program. But that’s the way it’s been. This has been so much fun.”

The overall experience of this season has Bresnahan focusing on a potential coaching career.

“This whole thing has opened my eyes to how rewarding it feels when you help a player develop and improve, and help a team realize its goal,” she said. “Coaching is definitely for me. I love mentoring and working with players in the game I love so much.

“I definitely want to stay in this field. I love it.”

And Duquesne wants to stay in the tournament as long as it can.

“Our main goal this year has been to make the tournament, but we’re not satisfied with just doing that,” Bresnahan said. “We want to prove that Duquesne belongs in this tournament and it shouldn’t have taken this long for us to get here.”