Second-seeded Duke made its fourth straight Elite Eight exit Tuesday night, falling short 87-76 to top-seeded Notre Dame at the Ted Constant Center in Norfolk, Va. Notre Dame senior Skylar Diggins, who was named the Norfolk Region’s Most Outstanding Player, picked up two early fouls but returned late in the first half with a vengeance, hitting four 3-pointers and finishing the game with 24 points.
After a quiet opening, Duke’s energy allowed it to build a nine-point lead with 5:16 remaining in the first half. The Blue Devils (33-3) were flying to the ball; junior Richa Jackson viciously swatted Diggins’ shot, 6-foot-3 sophomore Elizabeth Williams dove out of bounds to save a rebound and freshman point guard Alexis Jones pushed the rock furiously. Junior Tricia Liston led all scorers at the break with 13 points—both Liston and Jones were named to the All-Tournament Team.
“Our first half was pretty good,” Liston said. “We held them to 31 points and we were right on pace for the [defensive] goal that we wanted to keep them at for the game. I thought we did a great job and we had great focus on the shooters and the go-tos that we wanted to shut down, [but I] wish we could have had that same focus in the second half on defense.”
Despite their lackluster start, the Fighting Irish (35-1) came out in the second half firing on all cylinders. Flashy high-low passing earned the Fighting Irish a plethora of easy layups—Notre Dame finished with 34 points in the paint. Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw attributed the team’s turnaround to ball movement and spacing.
“We really came out of the locker room with a lot more energy and intensity—I felt like in the first half they were outworking us,” McGraw said. “We got in our offensive rhythm. We moved the ball a little bit better [and] got better looks. Our selection was so much better because we were using the high post.”
While the Fighting Irish certainly came out with renewed passion, Duke’s foul trouble—particularly that of Alexis Jones—played a huge role in Notre Dame’s second-half success. The Blue Devils came out of their man-to-man defense, allowing Diggins to find space and begin her scoring frenzy after a slow start. Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie said foul trouble forced her hand in switching the defense.
“We had foul trouble,” McCallie said. “You can’t play man-to-man when you’ve got a point guard with four fouls for half a game… it was not ideal for us. We played the game without our point guard for a great deal—without Chelsea Gray and without Lex— that’s a problem.”
The softened defense seemed to ignite Diggins, who had 16 points in the second half alone. While her long-range shooting remained a threat, all but three of Diggins’ second-half points came by attacking the basket.
“In the second half we settled into the game and started to play our game,” Diggins said. “I thought we got the ball moving better.”
Ball movement was certainly key for the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame wings Kayla McBride—who also earned All-Tournament Team honors—and Lloyd Jewell were highly effective in stretching Duke’s defense, combining for 35 points and shooting 4-for-7 from beyond the arc. Natalie Achonwa, a 6-foot-3 junior forward, had an impressive day on the block and finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds—her school-record 19th double-double this season.
After outplaying the Fighting Irish for much of the first half, Duke could not muster enough offense to keep pace in the second period. The Blue Devils struggled to move the ball, often forcing Jones and Jackson to lower their heads and fire desperate attempts with the shot clock winding down. Williams felt that more inside play might have improved Duke’s offensive efficiency.
“We could have gotten the ball inside a little more,” Williams said. “We didn’t do a good job of that. The turnovers really influenced that—that’s not getting the ball inside.”
The Blue Devils’ offensive woes combined with Notre Dame’s improved vigor made for a very ugly second half. The Fighting Irish went on a 17-5 run coming out of the locker room and never really looked back.
With 2:40 left, the game appeared out of reach for the Blue Devils, who trailed 77-62 with 2:02 remaining. But several key 3-pointers by Haley Peters and determined full-court pressure by Chloe Wells, who forced several Diggins into several uncharacteristic turnovers, kept things interesting. Down nine, the Blue Devils were forced to foul with just under a minute remaining. Notre Dame’s Ariel Braker missed both free throws, but McBride secured the offensive rebound and, after taking a foul herself, knocked down both shots at the charity stripe—the nails in Duke’s coffin. McCallie explained that the Blue Devils’ final push was too little, too late.
“It bothers me a little bit to fight so hard at the end like that. It’s like, where has that been? You have got to fight for 40 minutes at this level. At one breath, you’re inspired by it. In another breath, it is a little irritating, because you’ve got to play for 40 minutes at this level.”
Duke’s lone senior, Allison Vernerey, gave great effort off the bench shooting 3-for-4 from the field and collecting four rebounds, but the French native will have to be content with four straight elite-eight finishes. The rest of the team hope to learn from Tuesday’s experience.
“It’s really hard [to get this close],” Williams said. “We felt like we deserved to be here but we didn’t play a full game that reflected that, and unfortunately, we see our result now.”
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