BLACKSBURG, Va. — The No. 8 Blue Devils delivered a heartbreaking Valentine’s Day loss to Virginia Tech Sunday, defeating the Hokies 65-53 at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg. Despite an inconsistent offensive performance, Duke, led by junior Jasmine Thomas, maintained its composure in the final minutes of the game to come away with its third win of the week.
After posting less-than-stellar offensive performances against North Carolina and N.C. State earlier this week, Thomas showed her resiliency, registering a game-high 22 points. The All-America candidate was a pillar of offensive consistency for the Blue Devils in what was otherwise a spotty showing. Thomas was an efficient 8-of-15 from the field against the Hokies.
But Thomas, always the team player, said that scoring was not her focus coming into the game.
“It always feels good to hit your shots, but it wasn’t something that was on my mind,” Thomas said.
Duke (21-4, 9-1 in the ACC) found an offensive rhythm early, sparked by treys on consecutive possessions from Thomas. Joy Cheek and Karima Christmas balanced out the Blue Devil offense to build up a 13-point lead with 11:37 remaining in the first half. The Hokies, however, driven by 3-point field goals from Lindsay Biggs and Shanel Harrison, responded with seven unanswered points. Virginia Tech (13-12, 2-8) whittled Duke’s lead to four to close of the first half.
The second half featured more of the same offensively for the Blue Devils. Brief periods of hot shooting were followed by intermittent lags that kept the Hokies in the game, and with 7:50 remaining, Virginia Tech took the lead for the first time since tipoff. After trading the lead four times, though, the Blue Devils took control at the 4:40 mark with a decisive lay-up from Joy Cheek. From there, the Blue Devils extended their margin to 12 points, scoring predominantly on foul shots.
“I think we always have times where we know that we have to pull out a game,” Christmas said. “I think that this game was a perfect example.”
Christmas came off the bench to add 15 points and a career-high three blocks for the Blue Devils, while Cheek chipped in 10 points.
Virginia Tech’s zone defense, however, effectively stumped the Blue Devils in the paint. Center Allison Vernerey, who accumulated 30 points in the last two contests for the Blue Devils, was held to just two, and Krystal Thomas posted just six points.
On the defensive end, Duke was uncharacteristically slow, showing fatigue from its victories earlier in the week. For only the fourth time of the season, the Blue Devils were outrebounded by their opponent. The Hokies posted 37 boards to top Duke’s 34.
Fouls were also a persistent problem for the Blue Devils. The team committed 22 fouls, which the Hokies converted into 15 points from the free throw line.
However, head coach Joanne P. McCallie said that she was proud of how her team responded to the pressure from the Hokies.
“Sometimes you’ve just got to find a way, and I think that was the difference for us today,” McCallie said. “We found a way.”
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