The Duke women’s basketball won for the first time in two weeks on Thursday night, an 86-59 road victory over Boston College powered by a balanced offense and one of the best defensive quarters in program history.
Ashlon Jackson, Reigan Richardson, and Taina Mair all looked unstoppable on the offensive end for the Blue Devils. Richardson put two points on the board within 30 seconds of the opening tip, the first of Jackson’s three assists in the opening frame, and Jackson knocked down a 3-pointer in the final minute of the quarter to open up a 22-17 lead.
Mair took her share of the production in the second window, setting up two of her teammates in the first two minutes and notching seven more points on her own before the midway point. The tradeoff continued the entire night, and Boston College looked incapable of stifling all three guards at once.
The trio each finished with 14 points on Thursday, shooting a combined 17/34 (50%) from the floor and 6/11 (54.5%) from 3-point range with four triples from Jackson alone. All three finished with multiple assists, and Jackson and Mair both ended up with three steals.
While the Blue Devils shot 52.4% from the floor and 50.0% from beyond the arc as a team, the second-quarter defense put the game out of reach. Duke forced nine missed shots and more than a dozen turnovers to hold Boston College to two points, the third time in school history that the Blue Devils kept a team to two points in a quarter.
The offense kept chugging, and 19 more points boosted the advantage to 42-19 lead at the midway point. Thanks in part to 23 combined points from sophomore Oluchi Okananwa and freshman Toby Fournier off the bench, the Blue Devils cruised for the entire final 20 minutes.
Duke, now 11-3 on the season with a 2-0 ACC record, hosts Pittsburgh at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Sunday.