HENDERSON, Nev.— It was size against speed in No. 13 Duke’s matchup against No. 9 Kansas State Monday afternoon.
Both teams came into the contest riding high off of dominant wins, but from the onset, it was clear that any team wanting to walk out of Lee’s Family Forum with the win would need to fight for it. And Monday afternoon, that team was Duke as it stormed its way to an impressive and hard-fought 73-62 win.
“We had a slow start that wasn’t great,” head coach Kara Lawson said. “But players like to be challenged, and I think we had a focused group, just proud of the way they finished.”
The second quarter started much like the first with the Wildcats getting off to a quick start, but something had lit a fire inside of the Blue Devils (6-1) late in the first quarter, and they refused to go down quietly. Though shots were not falling as much as Duke may have liked, it instead focused on its signature lockdown defense, forcing 18 turnovers, including numerous shot-clock violations on Kansas State (5-1). And as Duke’s defense locked down the Wildcats, its offense finally sprung to life.
Jackson played a large role in Duke’s second-quarter comeback and would end up leading her team in points with 30 — a new career high — on the night. Every time the China, Texas, native made another 3-pointer, the Duke bench and fans in the arena erupted into cheers, bringing the energy the Blue Devils needed into the tough, physical contest.
With the emotions and momentum of the end of the first quarter to build on, the Blue Devils enforced a nearly six-minute scoring drought on the Wildcats in the second quarter, while going on a 15-3 run in the last five minutes before the half ended. In a complete reversal, the Blue Devils walked into the half leading the game 37-31.
It was Jackson’s career night on offense that anchored the Blue Devils throughout the matchup. Jackson shot an impressive 12-for-19 from the field and 6-for-9 from the 3-point line. Between her and senior Reigan Richardson, the pair accounted for 46 of Duke’s points.
“Ashlon was the best player on the floor today,” Lawson said. “Her shot making in that first half got us out of that hole which was critical.”
Just as the Blue Devils had in the first quarter, Kansas State head coach Jeff Mittie called a timeout with about two minutes left in the third quarter as the Blue Devils had grown their lead to 14. But, it was too late to stop Duke’s momentum. Though the Wildcats went down and immediately scored out of the timeout — another layup in the paint from Lee — Jackson had the answer for Duke, continuing her stellar offensive day with another made 3-pointer.
Defending Kansas State graduate student Ayoka Lee proved to be the greatest challenge for Kara Lawson’s squad. At 6-foot-6, the Byron, Minn., native towered over nearly every single Blue Devil and parked in the paint for most of the afternoon, where she could easily catch any passes from her teammates and scoop them in for a layup.
In part due to Lee’s efforts, the Blue Devils went down early in the first quarter as the Wildcats got off to a hot 8-0 start. After Kansas State’s Jaelyn Glenn made the pull-up 3-pointer off a fast break to bring its run to 11-0, Lawson called a timeout to refocus her team. Lawson’s frustration not only with her team was palpable in that early timeout, but the refocusing effort proved to be just the thing her team needed.
“We weren’t playing like ourselves,” Lawson said of her team’s first quarter play. “It’s a great life lesson. If you’re going to lose, lose being yourself, don’t lose not being yourself. Don’t play a different way. Be us.”
As they came out of the timeout, it was clear something had changed for the Blue Devils; Duke immediately went down the length of the floor where Jadyn Donovan made a layup to finally put her team on the board.
Donovan’s layup not only kicked off the scoring but also lit a spark for her teammates. From the moment Donovan made the layup, the Blue Devils’ entire demeanor shifted. The team emerged from the timeout energized and refocused just as Lawson had hoped. For the rest of the first quarter, led primarily by Donovan and Jackson, Duke managed to claw its way back, ending the first quarter down 18-17, despite being down 11-0 only five minutes before.
“My teammates hyped me up a little bit,” Jackson said. “They have the utmost confidence in me.”
Jackson and Richardson’s veteran leadership were a large part of Duke’s success, not only in scoring points. The two helped their team maintain its composure instead of panicking when they were down big against a physically larger team.
“Our coach always reminds us that we can never be satisfied with where we are,” Richardson said. “It was really a major key that we really decided to focus on.”
Still, the Wildcats had no intention of going down quietly and continued to use their physicality to keep the game close even as Duke continually tried to pull away. With Lee waiting in the paint, anytime a defender left her open, they ran the risk of her easily scoring another two points for her team. But that physicality was no match for the Blue Devils’ speed and prowess on both offense and defense.
Donovan recorded four blocks and seven rebounds on the night while her fellow sophomore Delaney Thomas flew across the court, intercepting passes and helping her team get the second-chance looks it needed to survive. Though the Wildcats were taller than them, the Blue Devils refused to let that interrupt their usual rebounding rhythm. They ended the contest with 38 rebounds compared to Kansas State’s 34.
“We were small out there against those guys, so we had to fight. We had to scrap,” Lawson said. “That’s how you have to play against size like theirs.”
Duke will remain in Henderson, Nev., to continue on in the Ball Dawgs Classic where they will face Oklahoma or DePaul Wednesday afternoon in the championship game.
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