No. 11 Duke women's basketball suffers first loss of the season at No. 18 Maryland

Jadyn Donovan drives to the basket for Duke.
Jadyn Donovan drives to the basket for Duke.

COLLEGE PARK, Md.,— Overwhelmed. 

With two games under its belt where Duke proved to be the fastest, toughest team on the court, the Blue Devils met their match in a high-powered offense that was firing on all cylinders in Maryland. Falling behind in the first quarter after a slow start, Duke couldn’t catch up. 

The Blue Devils ended a two-game road trip in College Park, Md., coming out of Xfinity Arena with a 85-80 loss to the Terrapins Sunday afternoon.

“Tough game for us, I thought their physicality, their experience and their size really was a difference maker, particularly in the first half,” head coach Kara Lawson said. “There’s a lot of things we can work on, but I'm proud of my group, and we just didn't have enough to climb out of the deficit there in the second.”

Facing a growing deficit in the third quarter, Duke (2-1) continued to push the pace, sending Toby Fournier ahead of the defense for a key and-one bucket out of the media break. Kaylene Smikle responded immediately with an old-fashioned 3-pointer of her own. Both teams exchanged turnovers and Maryland (3-0) was able to take advantage, finding forward Allie Kubek open below the basket to put the home team up double digits for the first time in the afternoon at 55-44. 

The Blue Devils leaned on a set offense in the third quarter. Duke thrived off of off-ball movement, finding sophomore forward Delaney Thomas coming from the top of the key and Jadyn Donovan on a backdoor cut for two key baskets with under three minutes to go in the period. The visitors would end the game with 18 assists to the Terrapins’ 12, a bright spot in a generally dismal offensive night for head coach Kara Lawson’s squad. 

Junior guard Ashlon Jackson led a 7-0 scoring run midway through the fourth quarter, laying it in transition and then draining a shot from deep, as Duke clawed back against a hot Maryland offense. Bri McDaniel responded with a tough shot through contact, drawing the foul and extending the Maryland lead back to 11. Duke continued to battle but could not finish around the rim, hitting just 20-of-42 layup attempts. 

“So you're going to miss some layups, but I thought we missed more than normal. We missed some wide-open ones, and then missed 12 free throws,” Lawson said. “And so I thought those were probably the two areas that we were below the level that you need to be to win a game like this.”

Jackson continued to be the spark late in the fourth quarter, hitting from distance to shorten the Terrapins’ lead to 10 with three minutes remaining. Her efforts were just not enough to keep pace with a quick-firing Maryland offense. Mia McLean found the cutter on the other end for two points, and the Terrapins made key buckets when it mattered most to come out on top. 

The shots were not falling for Duke early, as Richardson missed two jumpers and Donovan left two free throws off the back of the rim. The Blue Devils did not score for the first 3:34 of play and fell to a 9-0 deficit. Thomas broke away for a layup off of a Maryland turnover to finally put Duke on the board.

Struggles on the boards and with fouls kept the ball in Maryland’s hands for the majority of the first quarter. Facing several mismatches in the frontcourt, the Blue Devils gave up seven offensive rebounds in the first 10 minutes of play alone. 

Sophomore guard Oluchi Okananwa provided a spark on defense, earning two steals and a block in the first period to slow the Terrapins’ scoring. Fournier came off the bench to lead the Blue Devils’ response to a hot start from the hosts, but Maryland still led 21-13 after the first quarter. 

Already playing from behind at the start of the second quarter, Taina Mair hit from distance to bring Duke back within four, but Maryland’s Saylor Poffenbarger gave one right back to restore the Terrapins’ lead. The home team finished the first 20 minutes shooting 67% from beyond the arc, well outpacing the Blue Devils’ 25%. 

Later in the period, Fournier blazed through the lane for a strong lay-in and caught a foul. For every punch the Blue Devils threw, though, Maryland threw two; Shyane Sellers responded with a layup on a fast-break and Kaylene Smikle hit a three-ball to put the Terrapins back up eight. Ashlon Jackson hit two jumpers to close the first half but was just off on a 3-point shot at the buzzer, leaving Duke with a 40-33 deficit. 

Richardson kicked off the second half by draining a much-needed 3-point shot to pull the Blue Devils within four. The Terrapins hit a pair of triples and a layup to answer before the media break. While Fournier continued to draw fouls, her and her team struggled to hit free throws; Duke shot 53.8% on the afternoon from the charity stripe, a big storyline in the loss. 

“It's just learning and growing and I'm so excited to be with this group at this moment,” Lawson said. “I'm encouraged by what I saw and by the different moments of success that each of them had.”

The Blue Devils will look to bounce back at home against Dayton Nov. 14 at 7 p.m.

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