With Duke’s first-ever contest against Missouri tied at halftime Sunday, somebody had to break the game open. Nobody expected it to be Tiger role player Hannah Schuchts.
Yet, Schuchts’ perfect performance from the field pushed No. 21 Missouri past Duke 62-54 in the fifth-place game of the Gulf Coast Showcase at Hertz Arena in Estero, Fla. The Blue Devils could not find a solution to the redshirt junior guard, especially in the second half, when she scored 22 of her career-high 25 points. Schuchts shot 8-for-8 from the field while sinking all six of her 3-point attempts in 28 minutes. Overall, the Tigers struggled to find their shot in the first quarter but peppered Duke from deep afterwards, draining a school-record 16 3-pointers on the day.
Meanwhile, the Blue Devils were unable to break down the Missouri defense, notching just six assists as a team. They shot a mere 38.8 percent from the field—29.4 percent from 3-point range—and were often forced to take difficult shots against their first ranked opponent this season.
“Offensively, we just need to find our point guard,” Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie told GoDuke.com. “We need to find a place where we can distribute the basketball. You can’t win too many games getting [six] assists.”
Despite some sloppy play, Duke (3-3) owned a 12-8 lead by the end of the first quarter. However, the Tigers (5-2) came roaring back in the next frame. Although the Blue Devils’ length prevented Missouri from finding quality shots in the paint, the Tigers didn’t need them. In fact, Missouri did not score a 2-point basket the entire first half, instead relying on eight treys to knot the game at 26 apiece heading into the break.
Redshirt junior guard Haley Gorecki shined with 14 points in the first half for Duke, though no other Blue Devil put up more than four points before the break. Gorecki finished the game with 24 points on 7-of-20 shooting and seven rebounds to lead Duke.
Entering Sunday’s game, Schuchts was averaging 4.5 points per game this season. She exploded in the third quarter with a trio of threes and a layup. Duke forward Leaonna Odom nearly matched her, scoring 10 points in the period. A putback and a pair of free throws from Odom brought the Blue Devils within one at the end of the third.
But in the final quarter, nobody could keep pace with Schuchts, whose 11 points helped Missouri finally pull away from Duke. Her only miss was a late free throw. Many key misses for the Blue Devils, on the other hand, led to them being outscored 23-16 in the fourth quarter.
“Down the stretch, we lost our poise and took some shots you can’t take when you’re trying to get back in a game,” McCallie said. “You have to get to the rack, get to the free-throw line—and we had our chances at the free-throw line as well.”
Missouri’s star player, first-team All-SEC guard Sophie Cunningham, struggled mightily throughout Sunday’s game. She finished with just eight points while shooting 3-of-14 from the field. In spite of Cunningham’s off day, the Tigers shot an efficient 47.1 percent from beyond the arc.
The Blue Devils won the rebounding battle for the second straight game, 35-31, thanks in part to freshman Onome Akinbode-James’ career-high 11 boards. However, Duke again fell characteristically short from the foul line, converting just 11-of-18 attempts. The team is shooting under 60 percent from the charity stripe this season.
“We’re learning slow,” McCallie said. “We need to learn a little bit quicker, and we need to learn about offensive poise and the decisions we make throughout the game.”
The loss meant a sixth-place finish at the Gulf Coast Showcase—hardly the result the Blue Devils were looking for. Duke will look to get back in the win column in the upcoming ACC/Big Ten Challenge at Wisconsin.
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