In their last "developmental game" the Blue Devils proved they are among the dominant programs in the nation and ended their home-stand on an explosive note.
Finishing a three-game stand at Cameron Indoor Stadium, No. 8 Duke kept Stony Brook winless on the road, winning 72-42 Friday night. The Seawolves trailed by as few as five during the first half against a Blue Devil squad that struggled with converting its scores early but eventually found its rhythm on offense.
“The bottom line for us is that we need to know who we are,” head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “We are a strong team, a long team, a powerful team. The ball must go inside, and once it does, great things happen.”
A strong defensive showing with 10 blocks, seven steals and just eight points allowed in the paint kept Duke (5-0) ahead long enough for its offense to break away, led by a double-double from sophomore forward Oderah Chidom and double-digit scoring efforts from three other teammates. The Blue Devils were forced to play without breakout freshman Azura Stevens due to a foot injury, although she is expected to return for Sunday’s game at No. 7 Texas A&M.
Surging to an 11-0 lead in the first six minutes, the Blue Devils could not pull away from a Stony Brook squad that averaged 69.0 points through its first four games. Senior Elizabeth Williams and redshirt freshman Rebecca Greenwell entered Friday leading their squad with a combined 31.1 points-per-game average, but neither managed a field goal for the first 25 minutes of play.
“Sometimes you have to get the ball in ways that are uncharacteristic, and that was a good challenge for [Williams],” McCallie said. “[Greenwell] did a good job of staying steady and fighting back through the second half, but those are good experiences because sometimes you’ve got to be able to be successful and win ugly if necessary.”
Williams sustained an ankle sprain late in the second half, and McCallie said the team is hopeful for her return Sunday against Texas A&M.
The rest of the squad was initially able to fill the gap left by its two starting scorers, but its 45 percent field-goal shooting quickly dropped as Duke suffered two successive droughts of five and seven consecutive missed field goals, with just five points separating them.
“We just try to bring a lot of energy and pick each other up on the team,” freshman guard Sierra Calhoun said. “When we have those little lows…we just try to push as hard as we can to get through those.”
After missing its first nine field goal attempts, Stony Brook fought its way back to within six behind the combined scoring effort of sophomore Kori Bayne-Walker’s nine points and the Seawolves’ leading scorer entering the contest, senior forward Sabre Proctor, who ended the night with 12 points of her own. Proctor was unable to play for large chunks of the contest after early foul trouble kept her off the floor.
Stony Brook struggled with personal fouls across the team, finishing with four players having four fouls and two others with three. The Blue Devils shared the foul trouble as well, sending the Seawolves to the line for bonus free throws with more than eight minutes to play in the first half.
“We had some foul trouble that was unfortunate. I didn’t really understand it a lot,” McCallie said. “Basketball is a great game because it comes up with a lot of different challenges, and so we had a little bit of a different challenge today with Azura out, with foul trouble and things of that nature.”
Faltering to a 29.0 field-goal percentage during the course of the first half, Duke still built up a 10-point lead heading into the locker room. Maintaining the same high-pressure offense from their earlier minutes, the Blue Devils were able to build their lead to 30 during the second half behind conversions down low from Chidom as well as beyond the arc from Greenwell and Calhoun.
Chidom and Calhoun finished the evening with 13 points apiece, with nine of Calhoun's coming from downtown and Chidom adding 11 rebounds. The contest marked Chidom's first double-double of the season and second of her career.
“In the offseason I worked on different aspects of my game,” Chidom said. “I had a lack of focus in the first half, and then at halftime I had teammates come up to me and tell me that was O.K. and that it’s a new half, 0-0, start over, forget about the past and continue to play the game like I have been in practice all week.”
Duke finished 26-of-64 from the field and just 6-of-22 from beyond the arc, raising concerns for the squad’s matchup against No. 7 Texas A&M Sunday to finish a stretch of four games in eight days. After the Aggies, the Blue Devils embark upon a month of challenging matchups including No. 15 Nebraska, No. 1 South Carolina, No. 9 Kentucky and No. 3 Connecticut.
“We’re prepared as long as we take it one day at a time and really enjoy what the challenge is, because the opportunity is huge,” McCallie said. “The opportunity is exciting, and we’ve played our fair share of developmental games—it’s time to play some ‘game’ games.”
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