The last time Duke took on Stanford, circumstances were very different. The Blue Devils were on the road and the Cardinal was a member of the Pac-12. Led by superstar Cameron Brink, it was viewed as one of the best teams in the country.
This time, the tables were turned. The 16th-ranked Blue Devils hosted Stanford in the program’s first year as members of the ACC and sans Brink, giving the visitors a resounding 74-49 welcome for Duke’s first win over the Cardinal since 2008.
"[I] thought, in the first half, we were really, really dominant defensively, kind of staked ourselves to a pretty big lead,” head coach Kara Lawson said. “Third quarter got a little muddy. We got undisciplined, we started fouling, and they were able to beat us in that quarter, but then we regrouped and in the fourth and were able to win that one."
The two squads fought a tight battle through the first quarter and part of the second, as Stanford failed to close a small deficit but Duke could not extend its lead. Senior guard Reigan Richardson got the party started for the Blue Devils: She took a handoff from Thomas at the top of the key and drained a jumper with ease. While Duke seemed to struggle to create quality offensive opportunities early, the shots fell regardless, and the Blue Devils climbed up to a slim 9-5 lead at the first media timeout.
As the period went on, the Blue Devils began to gain confidence. When Duke junior guard Ashlon Jackson snatched the ball in her own end and took it all the way to the basket plus a foul, the crowd got on its feet. A tough bucket from forward Delaney Thomas extended the lead to 13, forcing Stanford to call a timeout. After a slower start, Duke had found its mojo.
Out of the break, things didn’t look much better for the visitors. Richardson picked yet another Cardinal pocket and jogged up the floor for the easy layup, with Jackson grinning ear-to-ear behind her. Just a few plays later, it was Thomas who picked the ball off for the easy score. After a fierce block from Richardson gave Duke a 3-on-2 at the other end, Jackson splashed a three from the corner to extend the Blue Devil lead to a whopping 18. The China, Texas, native led both teams in scoring with 14 at the half, as what had previously looked to be a close game was quickly becoming a beatdown.
"Our defense overall, our paint defense, our perimeter defense, it's played really well these last two weeks,” Lawson said. “I don't know the numbers and how they rank relative to everybody else. I just know what I see, we're playing [defense] at a really high level, and it's fun to watch."
It was much of the same to start the third quarter, as Duke continued to play stifling defense and attack the basket at the other end. The Blue Devils maintained their over-20-point lead, headed by Jackson’s volume scoring and an efficient 12-point afternoon on 5-for-6 shooting from Thomas. The West Virginia native earned her first double-double of the season with 10 rebounds, too.
Late in the third, sophomore guard Oluchi Okananwa found herself wide open behind the arc and tacked three more onto Duke’s total, and while the Cardinal managed to claw a little bit closer by the end of the quarter it still was not particularly close. The Blue Devils ran into some foul trouble as Okananwa picked up her third and Richardson found herself playing with three as well. Despite the concerns, the home squad held a respectable 19-point lead heading into the final 10 minutes of play.
The fourth quarter brought some issues for Duke, as Cardinal guard Shay Ijiwoye scored five points in quick succession to cut the Blue Devils’ lead down to just 14. Duke needed to batten down the hatches for the final seven minutes of play. Fournier once again got cooking down low, dropping in a physical layup and drawing the foul for an extra point. Jackson took it herself off a pick-and-roll into the post to tack on another pair on the next possession, and the Blue Devils had moved comfortably back into the driver’s seat.
"That's going to happen in a four-quarter game to try and grab it back,” Lawson said. “We just talked about getting the energy back, the emotion back in the game.”
Duke now looks forward to a Thursday night matchup with SMU in Dallas.
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Martin Heintzelman is a Trinity junior and Blue Zone editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.