Joy Cheek won the tipoff and tapped the ball towards Jasmine Thomas. She dribbled it down the court, calmly took the open jumper and scored. Only three seconds into the game, Duke was already ahead off of an easy field goal. It was that type of night for the Blue Devils in a rivaly matchup against the Tar Heels (16-6, 4-4 in the ACC).
No. 8 Duke dismantled No. 18 North Carolina Monday, rolling to a 79-51 win in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Rebounding off a tough road loss to Boston College, Duke (19-4, 7-1) put on an electrifying performance for the 6,902 fans in attendance as the Blue Devils stalled the ACC’s leading offensive squad and dominated on their own offensive possessions.
“I’m very proud of our team, our fight, our effort, our hustle,” head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “This is the kind of game we’d like to have more often than not.”
After that opening score, Duke reeled off eight straight points, increasing the score to 10-0 before North Carolina forward Laura Broomfield finally managed to get her team its first field goal 2:42 into the game. But Duke maintained its intensity throughout the first half, scoring effortlessly against a capable North Carolina defense. Whenever its opponent cut the deficit into single digits, Duke would quickly respond with another silencing fieldgoal. With the Tar Heels uncapable of slowing the Blue Devils inside the paint, Duke went 17-of-33 from the field in the first period, including a 42.9 percent performance from 3-point range. The sharpshooting peformance propelled the Blue Devils to a 42-33 lead as the first half drew to a close.
At the start of the second half, Broomfield hit another field goal to cut Duke’s lead to seven. But that basket would be the closest the Tar Heels ever got to closing the defecit. The Blue Devils outscored the Tar Heels 37-18 in the second half to win the game by a 28-point margin and seal their 13th consecutive win in Cameron Indoor Stadium against a conference opponent.
Impressively, the Blue Devils’ success came in spite of a tough shooting night for leading scorer Jasmine Thomas. The junior guard went 3-of-15 from the floor and missed all five of her attempts from behind the arc. But Thomas’s lack of scoring output was more than made up for by a balanced Duke attack that featured six players scoring in double digits. Even forward Shay Selby, who has only recently returned from offseason knee surgery, chipped in with a 10-point performance. In addition, senior forward Bridgette Mitchelle scored a game-high 12 points in her final home contest against the Tar Heels.
“That’s the power of the team,” McCallie explained. “Everybody on this team can offer something, and we’ve got to dig it out of ourselves to win every game.”
However, as notable as the Blue Devils’ offensive performance was, defense was what really defined their win against the Tar Heels. Duke was able to hold the ACC’s leading scoring offense nearly 30 points below its average of 80.5 points per game. The only team to best the Blue Devils’ defensive performance against North carolina was national juggernaut and current No. 1 Connecticut, who downed the Tar Heels 88-47 on Jan. 9.
Duke was effective in pressuring the ball throughout the game, forcing 25 turnovers and snagging 15 steals. In addition, the Blue Devils notched eight blocks, with three of those coming from junior center Krystal Thomas. But out of these impressive defensive statistics, Duke’s dominance on the boards stood out. Duke outrebounded the Tar Heels by a 52-28 margin, grabbing almost as many defensive rebounds as UNC did on both ends of the court.
“We’re a better defensive team now,” said McCallie. “The team deserves all the credit. They totally controlled the game from the board end.”
For the Blue Devils, they couldn’t ask for a better way to begin rivalry week. With only the Jan. 18 home contest against Connecticut drawing more fans, Duke was buoyed by a strong home crowd that certainly didn’t leave dissapointed after the final whistle—particularly as the 28-point victory was the largest Duke win over North Carolina in nearly seven years.
“[The rivalry] is really impressive,” said freshmen center Allison Vernerey. “That’s what makes the game fun and great. You have all this intensity and enthusiasm around you, and it gives you the energy to play better than you do usually.”
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