Duke pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the NCAA Women’s Tournament on Sunday, beating 2-seed Ohio State 75-63 to advance to the Sweet 16.
The Blue Devils held Ohio State to 40.4% from the floor, including 1/11 from behind the arc, while junior guard Reigan Richardson put up 28 points in the stunning victory.
The Buckeyes, a heavy favorite coming into the game, got off to the start many expected from the region’s No. 2 team. Ohio State scored seven of the game’s first nine points, and another quick run made the lead 18-8 after just eight minutes of basketball.
The Blue Devils trailed by 15 points with seven minutes left in the first half, but Kara Lawson’s team started clawing back slowly. Richardson and Ashlon Jackson traded baskets, burying back-to-back 3-pointers during a 10-5 stretch that closed the advantage to 10 points, but the real run was yet to come.
Richardson scored five more points in the final three minutes of the second quarter. Combined with a layup from center Kennedy Brown and three free throws from her teammates, the Blue Devils scored 12 of the final 16 points in the opening half. The final burst whittled the Ohio State lead all the way down to four as the Buckeyes clung to a 36-32 lead at the midway point.
The Blue Devils kept creeping closer as the second half wore on. Guard Taina Mair assisted on a jumper from Richardson before burying a 3-pointer herself, and Ohio State’s lead shrank to three points. Richardson swiped the ball from star Ohio State guard Jacy Sheldon and drew a foul, making both free throws to pull within one.
Sheldon, who entered the game as the third-leading scorer from the Big Ten with 18.0 points per game, shot just 5/13 from the floor to finish with 13 points. She had scored at least 15 points in nine of her previous 11 games.
Finally, with two minutes to play in the third quarter, Richardson drove to the basket and laid the ball in to knot the game at 47 points apiece. Less than a minute later, Delaney Thomas cut her way to the paint, and Duke finally had the lead.
The Blue Devils kept that lead through the end of the third quarter, holding a 51-50 advantage after three. Duke outscored Ohio State 41-30 over the middle two quarters, but the biggest test remained. Could the Blue Devils close the door?
The answer was an emphatic yes.
Ohio State grabbed the lead back briefly with two free throws, but Brown fought through a foul for an and-one to put the Blue Devils right back in front.
Trailing by one point with 5:22 to play, Richardson pulled up from beyond the arc and buried a 3-pointer, and Duke surged out to a 59-57 advantage. She added two more points on each of Duke’s next two possessions, and the Blue Devils were suddenly ahead by six with 3:40 to play.
Ohio State tried hard to make Duke make a mistake, but the Blue Devils went 9/10 from the free throw line over the final minute to cement the upset.
Duke moves on to the Sweet 16 for the first time in six years as the Blue Devils will play either Connecticut or Syracuse in the next round.