Tag: Reigan Richardson

Duke women’s basketball makes the Sweet 16 for the 18th time in program history

The Blue Devils upset Ohio State on Sunday to advance to the Sweet 16 for the 18th time, the first appearance during Kara Lawson’s tenure.

Duke’s statement upset over Ohio State on Sunday afternoon pushed the Blue Devils into the Sweet 16 for the first time under head coach Kara Lawson.

In fact, even though this year will mark Duke’s 18th appearance in the Sweet 16, the Blue Devils hadn’t made it past the second round since 2018.

The Blue Devils have made the national championship game twice, the Final Four four times, and the Elite Eight 11 times. They have a 60-25 record in the NCAA Tournament as a program.

They made it at least as far as the Sweet 16 every year from 1998-2008, lost in the second round in 2009, and then made the Elite Eight in each of the next four seasons.

Despite the program’s pedigree, however, this is the first time Duke has ever made the Sweet 16 as a No. 7 seed. In fact, this is only the second time the Blue Devils have made it this far with a seed below fourth (Duke was a No. 5 seed in 2018).

Lawson has coached Duke for the past four seasons, and she’s compiled a 67-32 overall record and a 3-1 record in the NCAA Tournament during her time in Durham.

Reigan Richardson just put together one of the best two-game postseason stretches in school history

Duke’s school history is littered with postseason basketball legends, and through two games this year, Reigan Richardson is etching her name in those history books.

Few schools have seen as many postseason basketball legends as the Duke Blue Devils. I mean, five national championships speak for themselves.

If you’re looking for the next Durham player to etch their name into school lore, you may not need to look much farther than junior guard Reigan Richardson.

Duke’s leading scorer this season, Richardson averaged about 11.5 points per game through the ACC Tournament. She’s dialed everything up a notch since March Madness began, however.

As the No. 7 seed in the Portland region, the Blue Devils looked like they were on full upset alert through the first two quarters of the opening round. Duke fell behind against No. 10 Richmond, trailing the Spiders 37-28 at the midway point.

Instead of succumbing to the potential loss, however, Richardson scored 12 points in the second half to lead Duke’s returning surge. The Blue Devils outscored the Spiders by 20 points over the final 20 minutes to keep dancing.

The second-half revival looks even better as of Sunday after Richardson and the Blue Devils erased a 16-point first-half deficit to stun No. 2 Ohio State and advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time in six years.

Everywhere you looked during the statement win, there was Richardson. The junior scored 28 points, including 10 in the final quarter, to lead the upset effort.

Through two games in this year’s edition of March Madness, Richardson is shooting 21/36 (58.3%) from the floor and 5/8 (62.5) from 3-point range. She’s averaging 26.5 points per game while no other Blue Devil has scored more than 27 points total.

In fact, Richardson’s 53 points against the Spiders and Buckeyes represent 36% of Duke’s total scoring. She, all by herself, scored more than one-third of the Blue Devils’ points through eight quarters.

On top of that, Richardson came down with seven rebounds in both games. She even generated three steals against the Buckeyes on the defensive end, and she’s only turned the ball over three times.

This is Duke’s 17th trip to the Sweet 16 since 1998, but the Blue Devils have never won two tournament games while seeded lower than fifth in their region. In fact, they’ve only been lower than a No. 4 once, when they were a 5-seed in 2018.

It’s not an exaggeration to call Sunday’s win the biggest upset in program history, and people who score 28 points in the biggest upset in school history deserve their place in program lore.

Those who have watched legends like Christian Laettner pass through Durham over the last four decades have been spoiled by some excellent postseason basketball. Despite the numerous accolades and banners, however, few players have ever propelled their team through the first two rounds quite like Reigan Richardson has in 2024.

Who is Reigan Richardson? Meet the March Madness star who took Duke to its first Sweet 16 since 2018

Meet Reigan Richardson, the Duke star who propelled an upset over Ohio State.

Sunday afternoon in Columbus, Ohio, turned out to be a coming-out party for Duke junior guard Reigan Richardson.

The former Georgia transfer lit up the No. 2 seed Ohio State Buckeyes in a decisive 75-63 upset for the Duke Blue Devils. They did it on the strength of Richardson, who got whatever she wanted as a scorer at all three levels — at the rim, from the midrange, and from 3-point land.

All told Richardson recorded 28 points, seven rebounds, three steals, and an assist. She is the first Duke women’s player to record at least 25 points in back-to-back tournament games since Alana Beard in 2003.

It is perhaps no coincidence then that Richardson’s sterling performance also helped Duke to its first Sweet 16 appearance since 2018:

In her second full season as a starter for the Blue Devils, Richardson has been a steadying presence. Her season-long stat line of 11.9 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 1.6 assists has been a boon for Duke on both ends of the court.

And now, with March Madness in full swing, the experienced player has taken her game to another level. What perfect timing:

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.

Oluchi Okananwa named ACC Sixth Player of the Year and All-Freshman team member

Duke freshman Oluchi Okananwa averaged 9.6 points and six rebounds per game despite averaging 21 minutes in her debut season, and she won ACC Sixth Player of the Year for her efforts.

The ACC announced its regular-season awards for the 2023-24 season on Tuesday, and Duke freshman Oluchi Okananwa was named the ACC Sixth Player of the Year for her first collegiate season.

Okananwa narrowly beat out NC State’s Zoe Brooks for the honor. The Duke freshman was also named to the ACC All-Freshman team, earning the fourth-most votes of any player on the squad.

The first-year Blue Devil finished third on the team with 9.6 points per game despite only playing 21.2 minutes on average, the sixth-most on the team. She also grabbed 6.1 rebounds and added 1.4 assists per game, and she swiped 1.4 steals per game on the defensive end.

Okananwa’s best game in conference play came against Georgia Tech back in January when she scored 21 points on 7/10 shooting. The Massachusetts native recorded her career-high of 22 points against Richmond in the season-opener.

Teammate Reigan Richardson was named All-ACC Second Team after she averaged 11.9 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.7 assists on 43% shooting for the season. She led the Blue Devils in scoring.

Duke women’s basketball glides to easy senior night win over Virginia

Duke honored a pair of seniors ahead of Thursday night’s game against Virginia before breezing past Virginia for a third straight win.

Duke women’s basketball picked up a 73-54 win over Virginia on Thursday evening for a third consecutive victory.

The Blue Devils, fresh off a stunning home upset of then-No. 6 NC State on Sunday, honored two seniors ahead of their final home game of the 2023-24 season. Center Kennedy Brown and forward Camilla Emsbo both walked to mid-court before the game, arm-in-arm with their families, as Duke fans showered them with appreciation for their time in Durham.

Once the game against the Cavaliers tipped off, the Blue Devils gave fans plenty of reasons to keep cheering. Duke scored the game’s first nine points, seven of which came from leading scorer Reigan Richardson after she knocked down a triple in the opening minute.

Virginia finally got on the board with a layup, but Richardson added another basket before a jumper from Taina Mair made it a 13-2 ballgame within four minutes.

Brown also got off to a solid start in her final game at Cameron, scoring four points in the opening quarter.

The Cavaliers fought back within five points before the end of the first and closed within three points in the early second, but Brown answered with a basket to rebuild the lead before back-to-back buckets from Jadyn Donovan stretched the advantage to nine once again.

Brown truly dominated the early second quarter the most. The senior center added eight points within a five-minute stretch to extend Duke’s lead, and she had 12 points for the game with four minutes to play before halftime.

She finished the game with 13 points, eight rebounds, and three assists while Emsbo added four points and two rebounds herself.

With the lead up to 11 points at the halftime break, the third quarter was the game’s quietest for both sides. After Duke scored 40 points in the first two quarters, the Blue Devils managed only 13 in the third frame. That was still enough to build the lead farther, however, as Virginia only managed 11.

Richardson took over again once the fourth quarter kicked off. She made two jumpers and a free throw in the first two minutes, and she added two more baskets before the end of the game to bring her total for the night to 24. She made 10 of her 14 field goal attempts during the game, and she added four rebounds and two assists.

The 19-point victory gave Duke a third consecutive win, moving the Blue Devils to 19-9 on the season and 11-6 against ACC opponents. Sunday’s finale against North Carolina in Chapel Hill will give the Blue Devils a chance for a 20-win season.

Duke women’s basketball gets massive upset over No. 6 NC State at home

The Wolfpack came into Durham as the No. 6 team in the country, but Kara Lawson’s Blue Devils made sure they left with a loss.

Everyone in Durham knew NC State would be one of Duke’s biggest tests of the year.

The Wolfpack came into Sunday’s game as the No. 6 team in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll, sporting a 23-4 record. They were the highest-ranked team in the conference coming into the week and a consistent top-five team in the nation over the past five years.

Duke welcomed the challenge, and after four hard-fought quarters, the Blue Devils walked off with a massive 69-58 upset win for in-state bragging rights.

The Blue Devils jumped on the Wolfpack from the opening whistle, scoring 11 of the game’s first 13 points. Duke’s Reigan Richardson seemed content to beat the Wolfpack herself, scoring the game’s first four points in the opening 90 seconds.

A team as good as NC State wouldn’t go away that easily, however, as the Wolfpack fought back within five before the first quarter ended. Their senior center River Baldwin, who ended the game with a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double, scored half of her team’s points in the opening frame.

With the lead just 13-8 as the second quarter began, Blue Devils fans could be forgiven for thinking momentum sided with the seasoned NC State team. Instead, Duke came out hot again, going on a 6-2 run to open the quarter. Sophomore Emma Koabel, who averaged two points in Duke’s last nine games, made two baskets in the opening minutes en route to a three-for-four performance from the floor.

Sophomore Taina Mair started to warm up in the second as well. The former Boston College guard made a jumper in the first two minutes, but a dagger 3-pointer with 2:30 before the half made Duke’s lead double-digits. Another layup later, she led both teams with 10 points at the break.

After the upset seemed vulnerable with the Wolfpack’s closing run in the first, Duke outscored NC State 22-11 in the second quarter to open up a 16-point lead at halftime. Suddenly, what looked to be Duke’s biggest test of the year was starting to become the team’s biggest statement.

Richardson stretched the lead a little further with a jump shot that found the net in the first minute of the second half, and Mair and center Kennedy Brown made 3-pointers within a minute of each other to ballon Duke’s lead to 22 points midway through the quarter.

Brown, who stands 6-foot-6, had only made five 3-pointers for the entire season before the sequence.

The Wolfpack kept trying to force their way back into the game, but Duke never let them gain momentum. NC State’s Aziaha James made two 3-pointers to pull within 13, and Duke answered with three easy baskets to end the run. The Wolfpack made a jump shot, but Richardson buried a triple. Each NC State punch had a Blue Devils counterpunch.

The fourth quarter began with Duke holding firm control of a 15-point lead, and the rocking Cameron Indoor crowd could power the Blue Devils to the finish from there.

The upset looked to teeter for the briefest of moments when Baldwin made a jump shot to pull the Wolfpack within nine with 2:26 to play, but Mair took over once and for all to cement the upset.

She made a layup through contact, drawing the foul and adding the free throw to pull the lead back to 12. After another NC State basket, she drove to the right and laid in a floater off the backboard, screaming and pumping her fists as it found the net.

The Blue Devils coasted from there, and when the final buzzer sounded, the 11-point win was secure. Mair ended the game with 20 points and seven rebounds, and Richardson added 15 points of her own.

The statement win is Duke’s second straight triumph over a ranked team after its Thursday victory over Syracuse, and the Blue Devils move to 18-9 on the season and 10-6 in ACC play. They welcome Virginia to their home court on Thursday next.

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.

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.