One more day in February means one more win for the Blue Devils.
Coming off two dominant victories against ranked opponents in then-No. 17 Syracuse and then-No. 6 N.C. State, the Blue Devils looked to use their hard-earned momentum to close out their 2023-24 regular season games at Cameron Indoor Stadium with a win against Virginia, a team coming off two impressive wins of its own. Having barely squeaked out a win in Charlottesville, Va., just more than a month prior, Duke sought to sweep its games against the Cavaliers Thursday night.
The Blue Devils put together a comprehensive and impressive 73-54 win. While their defense continued its upward trend of stifling opponents' offenses and silencing star players, the offense also shone bright, proving that everything is coming together for Duke and the team is peaking at the perfect time.
“February has been our best stretch of the season,” said head coach Kara Lawson. “Our hardest opponents of the season, when you look at who we had to play in the stretch of ranked teams and all of that. So that makes me feel really good and confident of how we're playing.”
Duke dominated from the opening minutes, jumping out to a 11-2 lead that forced Virginia head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton to take an early timeout in an attempt to settle her team down. But even then, it already seemed like her attempts to stop Duke’s momentum would be in vain. Virginia would never lead or tie the game, despite its best efforts.
Still, in games earlier this season, a knockout first half and 13-point halftime lead did not necessarily mean that Duke would walk away with the win. Thus, the assembled crowd at Cameron Indoor held its breath as the Blue Devils and the Cavaliers resumed after the halftime break of Thursday’s game. This time, Duke held tight.
All the things that might have meant defeat for Duke a month ago only strengthened them against Virginia. Graduate center Camilla Emsbo and freshman Oluchi Okananwa, two key defensive pieces for Duke, both had three fouls going into the fourth quarter. Instead of letting that affect their defensive plays and giving the Cavaliers an opening to come back, the Blue Devils simply adjusted, cleaning up their defense and remaining as airtight as ever. Rather than letting its 17 turnovers morph into something Virginia could use against it, Duke hustled back on defense, only giving up nine points to its opponent off of giveaways.
“It's probably one of the area's we've improved the most, our attention to detail and our application of the scout,” Lawson said. “They have a better understanding of how the other teams are trying to attack us.”
The Blue Devils certainly showed a high level of improvement in their attention to detail as they stifled any and all attempts by Virginia to climb their way to victory, Thursday night. Even as the Cavaliers burst out of the gates aggressive in the second half, trying in vain to find any weakness to exploit, Duke kept them at arm's length, even as Virginia guard Kymora Johnson tried her hardest to take her team back to Charlottesville with a victory.
A large part of Duke’s expert ability to keep Virginia at bay lay in its upperclassmen, especially junior Reigan Richardson and senior Kennedy Brown, who both showed up in big ways for their team.
“You can't go into a game and not have your juniors and seniors play well,” Lawson said. “There's just been a different urgency about Reigan and Kennedy both in the last couple of weeks, and our team has been a beneficiary of that.”
The duo led their team in points and undoubtedly provided the anchor for the Blue Devils against Virginia. Richardson scored 24 points, the most points she has scored since the team’s season opener against Richmond back in November. When asked if this was the most confident she had felt in her scoring abilities this season, the Charlotte native said it was.
“I’ve really been working with our coaches on just continuing to stay confident with my shot,” Richardson said.
Richardson’s regained shooting confidence anchored her team on the offensive side as the Blue Devils logged a 50.9% field-goal percentage, their highest in the past six games.
Not to be outdone by Richardson, Brown also contributed heavily to Duke’s efforts on senior night, tied for the lead in rebounds with eight and provided her team with the defensive center it needed to seize the victory.
With the winds of both offensive and defensive confidence on the Blue Devils’ side, Lawson’s bunch have given future opponents a glimpse of exactly how lethal they can be in the postseason. With March now officially here, Duke has finally put all its puzzle pieces together — right on time.
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