Tag: Ashlon Jackson

Ashlon Jackson leads the Duke women’s basketball team past Liberty for 2-0 start

Ashlon Jackson scored 22 points on Thursday night to lead the Blue Devils to a road victory over Liberty, moving Duke to 2-0 for the year.

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.

Duke survives first-round battle with Richmond after dominant second half

Duke women’s basketball advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday after a huge second half surge over Richmond.

Duke women’s basketball punched its ticket to the second round on Friday with a 72-61 victory over 10-seed Richmond.

The Blue Devils entered the game as the higher seed, with the committee assigning Duke the No. 7 spot in the Portland 3 region, but the Spiders had the advantage in the early going. The two teams combined for 49 points in an explosive first quarter, with Duke leading most of the way.

The final five minutes all came up Richmond, however. Siobhan Ryan buried a triple to give her team the lead with four minutes left, sneaking the Spiders ahead 16-15 and igniting a 13-6 run. Richmond took a 26-23 lead into the first break of the day.

The second quarter couldn’t have been more different, though. Both teams combined for 16 total points, including just five from the Blue Devils. A 3-pointer from Emma Koabel with three minutes left before halftime was the only made field goal of the frame for Duke despite 14 attempts from the floor.

Luckily, Richmond didn’t fare much better for the second quarter, but the Spiders’ 11 points still gave them 37-28 lead at the midway point, putting Duke squarely on upset alert.

Reigan Richardson, the Blue Devils’ leading scorer from the season, refused to let that go any farther. She made the first basket of the third quarter, a jumper on the opening possession, and Duke hit the ground running. The Blue Devils scored the first nine points of the quarter, swinging it back to a tie game when Ashlon Jackson buried a triple for the exclamation point.

A few minutes later, Richardson made a three of her own, and ACC Sixth Player of the Year Oluchi Okananwa drew a foul, dropping both free throws to give the Blue Devils a three-point lead. Okananwa made another layup a few minutes later before Jackson’s second 3-pointer of the quarter broke the game apart.

When the third quarter was all said and done, the Blue Devils outscored Richmond 23-10 to flip the game from a nine-point deficit to a four-point advantage.

Jackson buried another 3-pointer for the first points of the fourth quarter, and she finished the game with 14 points after shooting 4/7 from beyond the arc.

Richardson caught fire again midway through the final quarter. She went two-for-two from the free-throw line before making two straight baskets on back-to-back possessions, one of which from beyond the 3-point line, leading a 13-7 run from Duke that put the game out of reach.

By the time Richardson’s latter jump shot found the nylon, Duke was leading 67-56 with three minutes to play. Jackson ended the game for good with her fourth and final 3-pointer a minute later.

Richardson finished the game with 25 points, shooting 10/18 from the floor and adding seven rebounds. Center Kennedy Brown added 10 points, seven rebounds, and five assists.

The Blue Devils move on to face No. 2 Ohio State in the second round with the game scheduled for Sunday.

Duke women’s basketball drops close game to Virginia Tech

The Duke Blue Devils women’s basketball team fell to the No. 13 Virginia Tech Hokies Thursday night. Here’s the breakdown on how the game went.

The Duke women’s basketball team had their three-game winning streak snapped in a narrow loss to No. 13 Virginia Tech on Thursday night.

The Duke Blue Devils (16-8, 8-5 ACC) fell to the Hokies (21-4, 12-2 ACC) 61-56 in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Blue Devils guard Ashlon Jackson led the team in scoring with 18 points on 5-11 shooting. She also affected the game defensively with two steals and two blocks.

The Blue Devils’ upset attempt got off to a solid start as they kept it a three-point game at halftime, trailing 30-27. The two sides continued to trade the lead as each team led on 12 occasions and were tied 11 times.

Duke guard Reigan Richardson also helped keep them in contention, and she finished the game with 11 points on 5-14 shooting.

The Blue Devils defense pestered the Hokies all game long as they finished with nine steals and six blocks as a team.

Virginia Tech and Duke entered the fourth quarter tied at 42 points apiece, but the Blue Devils’ stifling defense eventually started to show cracks.

Duke had no answer for Hokies center Elizabeth Kitley. Kitley finished the game with 34 points on 13-17 shooting and grabbed 12 rebounds to complete the double-double.

Kitley dominated the fourth quarter when she scored 11 of her points to give the Hokies a lead they’d never give up for the rest of the game. She also grabbed five boards in the final quarter, three of which were offensive rebounds.

Duke trailed 56-53 late in the game but missed three shots to try and tie it. Virginia Tech guard Georgia Moore made the Blue Devils pay and drilled a 3-pointer. Duke was forced to foul late and ultimately fell on the road.

Duke’s defense kept it close all game but a poor shooting night kept them from pulling off the upset. The Blue Devils shot just 36.5% from the field as a team and 27.8% from beyond the arc. Duke also struggled to stay consistent from the charity stripe as the team finished 65% from the free throw line.

The Blue Devils will return home for their next game against the No. 17 Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Monday. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN2.