Basketball is often a game of runs, and Duke started to run but never stopped in its Sunday afternoon meeting with Pittsburgh. The Blue Devils controlled both ends of the court from start to finish, combining a balanced offensive attack with a suffocating defensive effort that quickly left Pittsburgh in the dust.
After spending the holidays on the road, Duke returned to Durham for a conference clash, cruising to a 69-31 victory over the Panthers. Reigan Richardson led the Blue Devils in scoring with 13 points on the outing, and sophomore Delaney Thomas chipped in with 10.
“For us to close out a week in this league at 2-0 is terrific, no matter who you play, no matter where you play them. If you can have a 2-0 week in the ACC, you have to feel good about where you are,” head coach Kara Lawson said.
Duke entered Sunday’s contest with a crucial missing piece. Standout freshman and leading scorer Toby Fournier walked onto the court in streetwear after being helped off the court with an apparent shoulder injury in Thursday’s road matchup with Boston College. Lawson said that there is no timetable for Fournier’s return.
Richardson, who was sitting 11 points away from 1,000 on her career at the start of Sunday’s game, wasted no time making progress towards the milestone. The Charlotte native hit two jumpers to give the Blue Devils an early lead. Pittsburgh stepped up its defensive intensity after the media break in the first quarter, forcing a turnover and scoring in transition to tie the contest at nine.
Duke pushed back, though, with two monster blocks from forwards Delaney Thomas and Jordan Wood. Graduate guard Vanessa de Jesus capitalized with a strike from beyond the arc. The Blue Devils scored 17 unanswered between the first and second quarters to jump out to an 18-point lead early on in the second period of play.
Even without Fournier — who, at 6-foot-2, is a key presence in the frontcourt — Duke controlled the interior out of the gate, holding the Panthers to just eight points in the paint before halftime. Pittsburgh was forced to take tough shots from the perimeter, shooting at just a 10% clip from beyond the arc in the first half.
“There have been some games where we’ve been lackadaisical with our defense. And throughout practices, we’ve been trying to get back to Duke defense and I think today we really showed that,” Richardson said.
The Blue Devils pushed the pace in the second quarter, forcing consecutive turnovers that Wood took advantage of for a layup in transition. Ashlon Jackson picked off a pass on the perimeter and Oluchi Okananwa cleaned it up on the offensive end for an and-one with just a minute to go in the half. Wood blocked a 3-point attempt from MaKayla Elmore to force Pittsburgh into a shot-clock violation on its final possession of the half, marking the Panthers’ 13th turnover to that point. Duke entered the half leading 38-15, holding Pittsburgh to fewer points through the break than any opponent so far in the season.
Richardson turned defense into offense for her 1,000th career point, connecting from the midrange off of a steal in the first two minutes of the third period. Even with a stellar opening half on the defensive end, Duke seemed to tighten its grip on the Panthers’ offensive efforts in the second. The Panthers committed six turnovers in the first five minutes of the third period alone, ending the contest with 29 in total. Sophomore guard Mikayla Johnson, who averages almost 10 points per game for Pittsburgh, scored just four points on 1-of-14 shooting, struggling to escape Jadyn Donovan and Jordan Wood throughout the afternoon. Duke had its strongest defensive outing this season, allowing just 31 points on 24.4% from the field.
“I thought it was a solid defensive performance by our team. We were one point away from four single-digit quarters, and I was really pleased with the endurance of our defense. Just tried to challenge them, regardless of the margin,” Lawson said.
Forward Khadija Faye broke the scoring drought with two lay-ins halfway through the third quarter, but the Blue Devils held a commanding 47-19 lead. Faye notched her fifth foul with over five minutes still to play, ending a 17-point showing for Pittsburgh’s leading scorer. Duke, on the other hand, continued to share the basketball in the fourth quarter: Donovan hit a jumper early in the period, followed by a Wood triple. Emma Koabel hit from distance to finish a well-rounded offensive night for Lawson’s squad.
The Blue Devils will take on No. 17 North Carolina in Chapel Hill Thursday at 7 p.m.
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