The Duke women’s basketball notched another game in the win column on Thursday night when Ashlon Jackson led the Blue Devils to an 83-67 road victory over Liberty.
Head coach Kara Lawson and her team, which started the year at No. 11 in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll, put their foot on the pedal from the opening minute. Jackson buried a 3-pointer on the first possession, kickstarting a 17-4 run to start the night.
Jackson made another 3-pointer before the end of the first quarter, and Duke led 29-15 after the opening 10 minutes. The Flames clawed back in the second quarter, though, scoring 22 points to pull themselves with two by halftime.
“I love these games,” Lawson said after the game. “I love being in a road environment. How it tests your team. How it tests me. Everybody’s good when it’s good. I need to see what happens when it’s bad — how do we respond?”
Jackson and the Blue Devils responded by dominating the third quarter even more than the first. She opened the second half with another 3-pointer in the opening minute, adding eight points to the board by herself within three-and-a-half minutes.
Duke ended that quarter with a 64-50 lead after holding Liberty to 13 points in 10 minutes, and Jackson finished the night with 22 points and six assists while shooting 5/7 from beyond the arc.
Freshman Toby Fournier didn’t match Jackson’s volume, but the first-year forward put up 13 points and came down with four rebounds in her second collegiate game. Sophomore Jordan Wood, who led the Blue Devils with a career-high 13 points in their opening victory over Radford, added 10 more off the bench as well.
Duke continues its road trip on Sunday against No. 18 Maryland, a game that tips off on FS1 at 1 p.m. Eastern time.