Second chances are great for those who receive them, but they don’t always happen. One has to prove its value and commitment to correcting past mistakes in order to earn them.
After Duke women’s basketball’s grueling, overtime loss to North Carolina Jan. 9, it felt like the entire team was in need of a reset. In 45 minutes of play, the Blue Devils had shot 23.5% from the floor and committed 21 turnovers.
“There’s a lot of lessons for us to learn from this game, and we gotta learn them quick,” head coach Kara Lawson said after that game.
Fast-forward eight weeks, and No. 16 Duke avenged its previous loss tremendously with a 68-53 victory over the eighth-ranked Tar Heels. While the Blue Devils benefitted from the absence of two North Carolina starters — Reniya Kelly and Alyssa Ustby — it was ultimately Duke’s strong execution that led to the Tar Heels’ undoing.
The biggest story of the night was that of senior guard Reigan Richardson, who produced a fantastic curtain call to her regular-season career at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Charlotte native scored 23 points and tied her career-high with five 3-pointers made.
“For the past couple months, I’ve been struggling mentally, trying to find myself again,” Richardson said after the game. “Being senior night, my family’s here, having all the fans here, it just [means] a lot.”
With Duke down 33-32, Richardson opened up the second half with her classic midrange jumper, a bad sign of things to come for the Tar Heels. After a missed jumper by North Carolina’s Lanie Grant, Taina Mair found Richardson in the left corner. The senior nailed a 3-pointer to extend Duke’s lead to seven. Mair then intercepted a pass by Grace Townsend, and six seconds later, Ashlon Jackson found Richardson in the left corner again. The senior sank another trey, capping off an individual 8-0 run and forcing a timeout by the visitors.
Just as Duke started the third quarter on a run, it bookended it with an even better one. After over two minutes of a stagnant 41-41 score, Jackson scored a deep 3-pointer with 1:26 on the clock. On the ensuing defensive possession, Fournier had a commanding block over Maria Gakdeng. While Fournier stared her down, Mair drove the ball up the court, passing it to Oluchi Okananwa, who in turn gave it up to Richardson. The senior didn’t hesitate, cashing in a trey over Lexi Donarski for her fourth of the night. Jackson pulled a deep 3-pointer over Hull as time expired, and suddenly, Duke had scored 11 unanswered points in less than 90 seconds.
“That third quarter in particular, we were able to create some separation,” Lawson said. “It was really that last few minutes … and [we were] able to hold on in the fourth.”
While Jackson shot just 4-of-12 from the field, her 3-pointers — arguably her best trait — effectively served as the dagger for North Carolina. In came Fournier, who had tallied 13 points and six rebounds in the first quarter alone but was held scoreless for the next two quarters. The freshman scored six of the last nine Blue Devil points (the other three were from Richardson), which included a tip-in after a Mair miss to secure her second double-double of the season with 3:23 left in the game.
“Toby got us off to an incredible start,” Lawson said. “She was attacking … I thought that really steadied us and just gave us a lot of confidence. Because when she’s playing well, we’re a good team.”
On the defensive end, sophomore Jadyn Donovan had one of her best all-around performances of the season. The Upper Marlboro, Md., native filled up the stat sheet with eight points, eight rebounds and four blocks. Her best rejection of the game — and possibly of the season — occurred late in the first quarter, when she firmly stuffed Blanca Thomas’ layup attempt without fouling, leading to a standing ovation from the Duke bench and the Cameron Indoor crowd.
“She’s such a great defender,” Lawson said of Donovan. “If it’s a four-guard lineup, she can play it and switch. If it’s too big, she can play it and not switch. She’s just so gifted defensively.”
Even on an off night shooting, Mair proved how important she is to the Duke’s postseason hopes this season. While she shot just 1-of-10, her steady ball-handling and defensive instincts garnered six assists and three steals while committing just one turnover. The Tar Heels shot slightly better than the Blue Devils — 44.2% compared to 40.6% — but they committed 20 turnovers compared to the home team’s eight, and the Boston native was a large reason why.
Duke will close out its regular season on the road against No. 24 Florida State Sunday, a tough finish to a brutal stretch of ACC play. With under a week to go before the ACC Tournament, Lawson noted the importance of the leadup to the subsequent NCAA Tournament.
“We knew this was an important week for us,” she said. “The cool thing about tonight and also Sunday and the ACC Tournament is you can kind of control your own fate. You can win your way to where you want to go.”
After the ACC Tournament ends, Duke will not have another second chance. It must put together the highs and lows of the season in an attempt to scrape together six straight wins. Fortunately for Lawson, she received a great look on Thursday at what this team can be at its best. If the Blue Devils can do what they did against North Carolina going forward — that is, every player living up to their role — they will be a serious threat in March.
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