Tag: Duke Women’s Basketball

What would Duke’s path through the ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament look like today?

Duke women’s basketball picked up a big ranked win over Syracuse ahead of a massive in-state matchup with NC State, but what would the ACC Tournament path look like if it began on February 24?

Duke women’s basketball picked up a massive win over No. 17 Syracuse earlier this week in what was one of the season’s most impressive defensive performances.

Ahead of Sunday’s game against No. 6 North Carolina State, the ACC released a hypothetical bracket of what the ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament would look like if it began on February 24.

The Blue Devils, who currently sport a 9-6 record in conference play, slotted in as the eighth seed in the tournament.

The ranking would give them a first-round matchup against Miami, a team that is 17-9 on the year and 6-9 in the ACC. If the Blue Devils take down the Hurricanes, they would then match up against top-seeded Virginia Tech.

The No. 8 Hokies are 13-2 in conference play and 22-4 overall so far in 2023-24, but Duke split the season series against them. The Blue Devils beat them at home 63-46 in January and fought valiantly on the road two weeks ago but lost 61-56.

Rival North Carolina, whom Duke beat in a massive comeback earlier this month, sits on the opposite side of the bracket as the No. 6 seed.

Duke soundly beats No. 17 Syracuse on the road for statement victory

The Blue Devils played their third straight ranked opponent on Thursday and finally picked up a win, beating the Orange on the road in a defensive battle.

The Duke women’s basketball team faced its third consecutive ranked opponent on Thursday night, the No. 17 Syracuse Orange.

After back-to-back losses to Virginia Tech and Notre Dame, however, the Blue Devils came out on the right side of the defensive battle with a 58-45 win on the road.

The Duke defense completely stifled Syracuse for the entire opening half, as the Orange only had 17 points by halftime.

Star guard Dyaisha Fair, who was named the Jersey Mike’s Naismith Women’s College Player of the Week earlier this month, made just seven of her 25 shots and finished 1/7 from beyond the 3-point line. Fair still managed 22 points, almost her exact average so far this season, but she entered Thursday’s game shooting 40% on the year.

Her teammate Georgia Woolley finished 3/11 from the floor, and no Orange player with more than two attempts shot better than 33% for the evening. Syracuse ended the game shooting 25% from the floor and 18.8% from beyond the arc as a team.

On the offensive end, the Blue Devils had a disappointing day from long range, making just three of 18 3-point attempts, but the interior efficiency was more than enough given how hard they made Syracuse’s life across the court.

Center Kennedy Brown led the team with 12 points, making four of her six attempts, while Reigan Richardson added 11 points of her own. Taina Mair couldn’t get her 3-pointers to fall, but she dished out nine assists to her teammates, a new season high.

Duke was as dominant on the glass as it was on defense. Guard Jadyn Donovan came down with 15 rebounds, seven of them on the offensive end, and three other Blue Devils finished with five or more rebounds. On the night, Duke more than doubled the Orange on the boards with 52 to Syracuse’s 25.

The win, Duke’s 17th on the season, moved the Blue Devils to 9-6 in conference play with three games left in the regular season. A massive in-state matchup looms against No. 6 NC State on Sunday.

Duke’s late comeback effort not enough in home loss to No. 17 Notre Dame

Duke gave the No. 17 Fighting Irish all they could handle at Cameron on Monday night, but Notre Dame pulled away late in the third quarter.

Duke made a valiant effort to upset No. 17 Notre Dame in front of the home fans on Monday night, but the Fighting Irish managed to pull away late in the third quarter.

The Blue Devils donned pink-trimmed uniforms for the team’s annual Pink Game, which honors breast cancer survivors and those still fighting the disease. Head coach Kara Lawson leaned as far into the theme as possible with an all-pink suit and pink-laced sneakers.

Both teams started a little slowly on the offensive end, but a 3-pointer from Taina Mair five minutes into the game gave the Blue Devils the lead. The basket kick-started an 8-0 run, mostly due to the efforts of Reigan Richardson. The Blue Devils’ leading scorer so far this season made two free throws before burying a three of her own, and suddenly, the ranked Irish were down 13-7 on the road in front of an energized Duke crowd.

Richardson continued her impressive form throughout the game, reaching double digits midway through the second quarter. She finished with a team-leading 23 points, her most since the season-opener against Richmond. She shot 8/17 from the floor and 3/10 from beyond the arc.

The Fighting Irish were too talented to remain down for long, however. They clawed their way back to a one-point lead by the end of the opening quarter, but two early baskets from Richardson and Mair opened the door for another Duke run.

Senior center Kennedy Brown came up big over the ensuing few minutes, assisting one basket and scoring another herself. Her presence in the interior kept the Blue Devils alive and ahead for long stretches of the game, and she finished with four points, five rebounds, four assists, two steals, and a staggering five blocks.

“Kennedy has been our best defensive player for two years,” Lawson said after the game. “She is our quarterback on defense.”

Richardson made another massive basket near the end of the half, a jumper in the final minute, to grow Duke’s lead to 30-27 at the break.

The advantage wasn’t meant to last, however. Over a five-minute span in the middle of the third quarter, the Fighting Irish held Duke completely scoreless while adding 14 points themselves. After 25 solid minutes of work toward an upset, the Blue Devils went from leading by three to trailing by 11 within the blink of an eye.

The fourth quarter couldn’t give Duke the spark it wanted. The Blue Devils put up 23 points, the most of any quarter on Monday, but Notre Dame responded with 22 points of its own to ensure the lead never grew smaller than seven. A brief glimmer of hope appeared with two minutes left when Ashlon Jackson nailed a 3-pointer to cut the lead to that exact margin, but Notre Dame scored, forced a turnover, and scored again to deflate the balloon.

The Blue Devils leave a hard two-game stretch between Virginia Tech and the Irish with two hard-fought losses, and the Blue Devils are now 16-9 and 8-6 in conference play. They take the court again against Syracuse on Thursday.

A look at the current path through the ACC tournament for Duke women’s basketball

The ACC released a projected ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament bracket on Friday, here’s what Duke’s path through the tournament could include.

The ACC shared what its current conference tournament would look like in women’s basketball on Friday, breaking down who all 15 teams would play if the season hypothetically ended on February 15.

The Blue Devils, who are 16-8 on the season and 8-5 against conference opponents, slotted in as the sixth seed in the current standings. Their placement earned them a first-round bye in the 15-team bracket, and they would await the winner of Clemson vs. Pittsburgh in the second round.

If Duke defeated the Tigers or the Panthers in the second round, they’d face No. 7 North Carolina State, the third-ranked team in the conference, in the quarterfinals.

One of the highlights of Duke’s 2022-23 season came in the conference tournament a year ago when the Blue Devils defeated rival North Carolina 44-40 in the conference quarterfinals.

The Tar Heels, whom Duke beat at home last weekend, are currently the No. 7 seed in the conference, so a potential rematch wouldn’t happen until the ACC semifinals.

No. 13 Virginia Tech, who won the ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament a year ago, is currently the top seed in the bracket with a 12-2 record in conference play.

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.

Women’s basketball coach Kara Lawson announced as assistant for U.S. Olympic team

Duke women’s basketball coach Kara Lawson, who won a gold medal with the U.S. women’s Olympic basketball team in 2008, will serve on the 2024 coaching staff in Paris.

Duke women’s basketball coach Kara Lawson will be in Paris for the 2024 Olympics.

The Blue Devils announced on Tuesday that their fourth-year coach was invited to be an assistant coach on the 2024 United States women’s Olympic basketball team.

“When I was a kid, my first athletic goal was to represent the U.S. in the Olympics,” Lawson said in a release from the team. “What an honor to be named to the staff for the Paris Olympics and to help the National Team chase another gold medal.”

Duke won 17 games in Lawson’s first full season, 2021-22, and improved to 26-7 last season. The Blue Devils are currently 16-7 this season and 8-4 in conference play.

Lawson helped the U.S. win a gold medal in women’s basketball during the 2008 Olympics held in Beijing. She led her nation’s team with 15 points in the gold medal game, a 92-65 victory over Australia.

The former guard also played for 13 seasons in the WNBA, winning a championship with the Sacramento Monarchs in 2005. She averaged a career-high 15.1 points in 2012 while playing for the Connecticut Sun.

Duke women’s basketball completes remarkable fourth-quarter comeback against UNC

The Blue Devils trailed by 12 points at the start of the fourth quarter and by eight with six minutes to play, but they came back for an overtime win over North Carolina.

Duke women’s basketball got to take on rival North Carolina in front of a sold-out home crowd on Sunday, and despite trailing by 12 points at the start of the fourth quarter, the Blue Devils clawed back to win the game in overtime.

The two seemed evenly matched when the day’s game began. The Tar Heels were 15-8 on the season, while the Blue Devils were 15-7. The first two quarters further highlighted how even the two rivals really were, with UNC taking a 26-25 lead into the halftime break.

The game came unraveled for Duke in the third quarter, however. The Tar Heels opened the second half on a 13-2 run to break the game wide open. UNC guard Deja Kelly, who finished with a game-high 20 points, kept offering dagger after dagger. She made three shots in the first four minutes of the quarter, the final of which gave her an additional free throw after a foul. Add in four points from teammate Alyssa Utsby, and the Tar Heels seemed to find the open field.

When the third quarter came to a close, North Carolina led by 12 points, and Duke’s chances seemed to be on life support. An early few points from Blue Devils forward Reigan Richardson marginally cut into the lead, but the Tar Heels still led by eight points with six minutes to play.

Then the Blue Devils came alive.

Duke rattled off eight unanswered points in the next two minutes to tie the game, spearheaded by a 3-pointer from Oluchi Okananwa. Duke’s Delaney Thomas finished through a foul for an and-one, and the ensuing free throw tied the game at 48 points apiece with four minutes of game time.

UNC responded with another basket, but Blue Devils guard Taina Mair nailed a 3-pointer to hand her team its first lead of the second half.

After trading free throws and no points over the last 90 seconds of regulation, the sold-out home crowd was treated to free basketball, and the home team looked to be playing with house money.

With the game still tied and a little more than two minutes on the clock, the Blue Devils seemed to channel the last burst of energy they needed. They went on a 9-2 run over the next minute-and-a-half, cemented by another massive shot from Mair.

The sophomore fired off a stone-cold 3-pointer from the corner, giving Duke the seven-point lead with less than a minute to play.

Mair finished the game with 13 points, second on the team only to Thomas’s 19-point performance. The Blue Devils outscored UNC by 20 points over the final 15 minutes for the 68-60 win.

The victory moves Duke to 16-7 on the year and 8-4 in ACC play, and the team has now won 11 of its past 14 games.