The injury bug has hit the Blue Devils in the team's biggest position of need for the second consecutive season.
Ahead of Duke’s matchup with No. 21 Florida State in Tallahassse, Fla. Sunday, the team announced that redshirt freshman Mikayla Boykin will be out for the rest of the season after she suffered a torn ACL on her right knee during the second quarter of the Blue Devils home loss to Miami Thursday night.
“We all feel for Mikayla,” head coach Joanne P. McCallie said in a press release. “There couldn’t be a better, more hard-working individual than Mikayla. It is absolutely devastating for what we have to witness for her to go through this again.”
The Clinton, N.C., native missed the first eight games of this season while she recovered from a torn ACL on her left knee in Duke’s win against Winthrop in December 2017. After returning against UNLV Dec. 6, the point guard started five of the eight contests and averaged 9.4 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.
Against Georgia Tech earlier this month on the road, Boykin registered a career-high 11 assists, which tied the Blue Devils' freshman record that was initially set almost 40 years ago back in 1980. In the eight games, she played in at least 20 minutes and dished out a 4.5 assists and 2.0 steals.
Boykin was thrust into the point guard position last season after redshirt junior Kyra Lambert never returned from her injury the season before. It was announced at the end of October that Lambert would indeed miss this season as well.
Without a point guard to lead the team, McCallie will likely have junior Leaonna Odom take over the ball-handling duties, as she did last game when Boykin went to the locker room as well as earlier this season before Boykin returned.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.