Revenge is best served cold, and the Blue Devils had been looking forward to this matchup for a while after getting destroyed in their matchup with Syracuse last year.
Duke returned that favor in full Friday, remaining unbeaten at home and taking control of third place in the ACC standings.
The No. 14 Blue Devils defeated the No. 20 Orange 72-55 Friday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium after another dominant defensive performance. Redshirt junior Rebecca Greenwell led three players in double figures with 18 points, but the real story was that Duke also held a team that averages more than 80 points per game to less than 30 percent shooting.
Although it has the nation's highest-scoring duo in Alexis Peterson and Brittney Sykes, Syracuse went just 10-of-37 from 3-point range as a team, a year after trouncing the Blue Devils 86-50 at the Carrier Dome.
“Everyone was super focused, we’ve been talking about it all year,” senior Oderah Chidom said. “It left a bad taste in our mouths last year so we wanted to show something this year.”
Duke (21-4, 9-3 in the ACC) got strong efforts from Chidom and senior Kendall Cooper, who combined for 28 points as the Blue Devils pounded a thin Orange back line inside to finish with a 44-8 advantage in points in the paint.
Cooper scored six quick points as Duke erased a 3-0 deficit with a 12-0 spurt to take control from the start of the game. She and her classmate have focused less on scoring so far this season, but were razor sharp with their tough finishes in the paint to allow the Blue Devils to set up their press.
“There was wonderful passing, you look at the assists, eight, five and three for Lexie [Brown], Becca and Kyra [Lambert],” Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “Finding the post players, having the post players finish…. You’re always in the money when you have lots of points in the paint.”
Despite a quiet shooting night from the Blue Devils' leading scorer in Brown, Duke’s offense was as balanced as it has been recently. All five starters looked comfortable working the ball inside and out to finish with at least six points apiece, and Brown had one of her best all-around games, nearly posting a triple-double with nine points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.
The Suwanee, Ga., native took full advantage of Gabby Cooper’s absence—the Syracuse starter missed the contest due to illness—and the Orange (17-8, 8-4) looked a step slow tracking down loose balls. Greenwell also posted double-digit rebounds to go along with a third straight strong scoring performance, frequently kick-starting the offense by collecting missed outside shots.
“We knew that they had a lot of big girls inside,” Brown said. “They shoot a lot of long shots so we knew there were going to be a lot of long rebounds. Our bigs did a really god job of boxing out their bigs and it was our job to get those long rebounds.”
McCallie's team controlled the game from the start by opening up a double-digit lead in the first quarter before using a 17-5 run spanning the end of the third and start of the fourth periods to seal the win. The Blue Devils' full-court press slowed down Syracuse's guards, and the Orange were often too busy taking the ball out of the bottom of the net to make Duke pay in transition.
Sykes in particular struggled mightily for Syracuse, going just 3-of-16 from the field with the Blue Devils’ rotation of guards providing suffocating defense.
Peterson and Sykes entered the game averaging more than 19 points apiece and shooting almost 40 percent combined from 3-point range. In addition to forcing the pair into tough shots, Duke held each dynamic playmaker to only three assists to suck the life out of its opponent. In the Blue Devils’ last nine games, they have only given up more than 60 points once.
“Everyone was aware of Peterson and Sykes,” McCallie said. “They’re both incredible players and you’ve got to be aware and that’s team defense all the way on both of them.”
Although Sykes canned back-to-back 3-pointers in the third quarter to almost cut the lead to single digits, Duke stayed calm. The Blue Devils triumphed despite committing 20 turnovers by working the ball inside to improve to 14-0 at home this year, including wins against four ranked teams.
Duke will look to extend its four-game winning streak Sunday afternoon against Pittsburgh and continue staking its claim for a double bye in the ACC tournament.
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