After thrashing No. 17 Virginia Tech on Thursday by 25 points, Duke looked like it had regained the focus it had recently lost in dropping two of its previous three games.
That was until the Blue Devils came out flat-footed against Boston College.
But despite a slow start that saw the No. 15 Blue Devils up only one point at the half, a 34-2 second-half spurt sent Duke to a 67-44 win against Boston College Sunday afternoon at the Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Mass., allowing the Blue Devils to end their two-game road losing streak.
After Duke turned a four-point deficit into a 15-point lead in the third quarter, the Blue Devils kept their foot on the gas pedal in the fourth quarter to make sure the Eagles found no life after halftime. Lexie Brown led the way with 22 points on 10-of-17 shooting, with Rebecca Greenwell and Kyra Lambert joining her in double figures.
“[Head coach Joanne P. McCallie] told us we needed a better offensive poise,” Brown said at the postgame press conference. “I think we were taking a lot of rushed shots in the first half. Our defense was great though considering we were still up despite our poor shooting performance.”
Sunday’s game was truly a tale of two halves. Despite having much more talent on the roster with the backcourt trio of Greenwell, Brown and Lambert, Duke simply could not create any kind of separation from Boston College (8-12, 1-6 in the ACC) early on. Part of the problem was what looked to be another off game from the standout redshirt junior Greenwell and more turnover woes on the road.
The Blue Devils (17-3, 5-2) coughed it up 10 times in the opening 20 minutes, allowing the Eagles to generate extra possessions against Duke’s matchup zone defense and keep the more athletic Blue Devils out of transition.
And after missing her first five shots from the field, Greenwell seemed on track for another disappointing ACC road performance. But she was able to turn it around to finish with 14 points and five rebounds as her team took advantage of 25 Eagle turnovers.
Duke has not allowed more than 15 points in a second-half quarter in its last three games.
“I know the first half we turned the ball over a few more times, we missed layups, we weren’t as sharp offensively,” McCallie said. “But I think that is evidence of the fact that if you play great defense, you create opportunities for yourself eventually,” McCallie said.
Although Greenwell struggled early on, Brown was once again a model of consistency for the Blue Devils. Brown and Lambert frustrated Boston College’s guards with their backcourt pressure, leading to several run-out layups and wide open 3-pointers. Lambert went 3-of-3 from long range to score all 13 of her points in the second half, blowing the game open as the Eagles struggled to score.
The Blue Devils assisted on 11 of their 16 second-half field goals, collapsing the Boston College defense at will then calmly kicking it out for wide open shots to show poise that has been missing many times on the road this season.
“Lexie had great offensive poise in the first half and she kept us in a good position,” McCallie said. “She kept everything moving offensively, and then in the second half we were able to get more people involved.”
Duke has shown the ability to take its defensive pressure to another level in the halfcourt at several points this season—the Blue Devils have earned four top-20 wins at home and ranked 10th nationally in field goal percentage defense entering Sunday’s game. In Sunday’s game, McCallie’s team also showed it could extend defensively in a fullcourt press to speed up an overmatched opponent.
With the switch that allowed Duke to knock off then-No. 3 South Carolina and then-No. 8 Louisville flipped, the Blue Devils held Boston College without a field goal for more than 15 minutes during the game-defining run.
“[We just tried to] make them uncomfortable, make their point guard uncomfortable,” Lambert said. “Our defense created our offense, so we got a lot of easy scores in transition.”
Duke finished with 27 points off 25 turnovers, resulting in an imposing 34-14 edge in points in the paint.
But after another slow start, the Blue Devils will look to make adjustments and come out of the gate stronger with a test at No. 6 Notre Dame Thursday next on their schedule. Duke has yet to beat a ranked team on the road and was blown out at then-No. 6 Florida State Jan. 8.
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