Duke women's basketball Player of the Week: Week 12

Azurá Stevens

The statline

Thursday vs. Pittsburgh: 26 points on 11-of-15 shooting, nine rebounds, three steals, one assist and one block. 

The good: The Blue Devils only played once this week as they prepare for a critcial Big Monday showdown at home against Notre Dame, and Stevens helped her team roll to its fourth straight win. Pittsburgh does not feature a player taller than 6-foot-2, allowing Stevens to dominate the paint and post one of her most efficient performances of the season, raising her field goal percentage to 56 percent this season. The 6-foot-6 forward also showed off her versatility, stepping out to knock down all three of her attempts from beyond the arc, where she is 8-of-13 from in her last four games.

On the defensive end, Stevens was a formidable presence inside and helped hold the Panthers to just four points in the paint. The Cary, N.C, native finished with three steals and one blocked shot and forced Pittsburgh to try to beat Duke from the perimeter, as 30 of their 52 field goal attempts were 3-point shots. The Blue Devils have held four straight opponents to fewer than 60 points, thanks in part to Stevens’ size and speed on defense.

The bad: The Panthers pulled down 12 offensive rebounds and outscored Duke 11-10 in second chance points during the game. Although the Blue Devils outrebounded Pittsburgh 35-27 for the game, this margin is usually larger against undersized teams like the Panthers. Stevens’ nine boards led the team but fell just under her season average, and she failed to reach double figures in rebounds for just the third time in eight ACC games while Pittsburgh forward Brenna Wise posted a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

The bottom line: Stevens has played as well as anyone in the nation during the last two weeks, and her 85 points in the last three games are tied for the fifth-most prolific three-game stretch in program history. After Duke dropped out of the rankings two weeks ago, she has taken her game to another level and helped the team gain some momentum heading into the toughest portion of its schedule, which features matchups against Notre Dame and at Miami this week. 

Honorable mention: Redshirt sophomore Rebecca Greenwell supplemented Stevens’ play with an efficient performance of her own, pouring in 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting and knocking down four triples. The Owensboro, Ky., native also had four assists to lead the Blue Devils along with graduate student Amber Henson. Greenwell and Stevens' 48 combined points matched Pittsburgh’s scoring output as a team, and Greenwell has reached double figures in all four games of Duke’s current winning streak. The guard also only committed one turnover Thursday to help keep the Blue Devils under 20 miscues for the fourth straight game.