A year ago today, Lyneé Belton's freshman season was ripped away from her. The road back to the floor was not an easy one, but with the redshirt freshman starting to come into her own, the Blue Devil frontcourt has gained another dangerous weapon.
Belton made her first career start in Monday's lopsided win against Massachusetts and delivered 10 points—tying a career-high—on 5-of-6 shooting. With a tall Liberty squad heading to Cameron Indoor Stadium Thursday at 7 p.m., the 13th-ranked Blue Devils will need another strong performance from their new sturdy post presence.
Belton tore her ACL Dec. 17, 2014, against Oklahoma in the final moments of a Blue Devil win. The injury set her back, but she took a medical redshirt and continued to rehab well into this season. The Clinton, Md., native eventually saw her first minutes Nov. 22nd against Army and steadily progressed enough to earn a starting nod Monday.
The result was the efficient low-post scoring and six rebounds in a career-best 24 minutes, creating a dynamic low-post tandem working alongside sophomore Azurá Stevens, who no longer has to do all the heavy lifting inside the paint.
“I thought I did really good [against Massachusetts] for a first collegiate start. There’s definitely some things I could have done better, like getting my stamina up a little better…but I think I did pretty good with rebounds,” Belton said Monday. “For coming back from the ACL, I had to do what I normally do when I got looks and that was the key thing.”
Stevens' is Duke's go-to scorer—the Raleigh native is averaging 19.3 points and 10.0 rebounds per game—but her slight build and soft touch at 6-foot-6 allows her to step away from the basket and stretch the floor. With Belton carving out space on the low block at 6-foot-3, Duke (8-2) has a back-to-the-basket presence that can collapse defenses to deal with her physicality and open up opportunities for teammates on the perimeter.
“She’s trying to take advantage of an opportunity…. She made the most of it [Monday], and I love to see that,” Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “She’s willing to use her body to get position. As we like to say, she’s willing to put her body on people and be aggressive, and we need that very much.”
Belton's scoring ability down low will divert attention away from Stevens, allowing her to see more open looks. During her first minutes of the season against Army, Belton helped free up Stevens for a career-high 32 points on 14-of-18 shooting. Although Belton’s stats were not eye-popping in her debut, Stevens noted that having the redshirt freshman back on the court helped open up the low block area.
Although not known as a basketball powerhouse, the Flames (3-6) boast one of the taller lineups that Duke has faced this year. With three players standing 6-foot-4 or taller, Liberty will have the size to contest Stevens’ efforts down low in ways that other Blue Devil opponents have not. Like Duke, the Flames have a formidable tandem in the frontcourt in a pair of redshirt seniors—Ashley Rininger and Katelyn Adams—who lead the team in points and rebounds, respectively. But the duo combined to shoot just 3-of-12 in Liberty's most recent game, a 92-56 loss to Seton Hall—the Flames' sixth loss in their past seven games.
“They’re just a strong, physical team,” McCallie said. “You really want to run them, you want to get the transition game and get those bigs to have to run and fill. It’d be wonderful. We could outrun them and get run-outs, so the tempo of the game is very important to us.”
If Duke does intend to try to turn Thursday's game into a track meet and tire out the Liberty forwards, McCallie may have to utilize Belton in small spurts as she continues to build up her conditioning following the ACL surgery.
With Liberty likely putting their best bodies on the versatile Stevens, Belton’s offensive talents could be they key to a Blue Devil victory. Despite the center's strong play of late, she may be only beginning to tap into her potential.
“She was playing this way when she got injured. Has she improved a lot since then? No, but she’s a very good player. Will she have a chance to improve this year? Absolutely,” McCallie said. “The part that’s missing for her to really take a huge step is conditioning…she just exudes and plays with confidence, and if she can grow that, I think she can do really good things for us."
Hank Tucker contributed reporting.
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