Teams down 11-0 in a do-or-die game against their archrival probably end up losing.
That’s the exact predicament head coach Kara Lawson and her second-seeded Blue Devils found themselves in Friday afternoon. A North Carolina side led by the dynamic trio of Maria Gakdeng, Lexi Donarski and Alyssa Ustby appeared to be pulling ahead, and Duke had to make it a game, quick.
“I will be honest, I was worried down 11-0 if we would score at all in the game,” Lawson said postgame. “But I don't think there has ever been a shutout in the tournament.”
Lawson’s fears were quickly alleviated by an unlikely hero. Forward Jordan Wood didn’t make the rotation last season, and very few prognosticators anticipated seeing meaningful minutes from the sophomore this season. In a dominant early-season victory against Dayton, Wood had her first outstanding game.
“Let's hope this isn't Halley’s Comet. Does this happen for her once every 86 years, or does it happen for her twice a week?” Lawson said Nov. 5.
Clearly, Wood is no mirage. She opened Duke’s scoring with a made free throw and a jump shot were only three of her teams’ 26 points off the bench, but she made her mark on the game.
Duke certainly needed Wood to get it started — the starting group went a combined 8-for-36 from the field — with Delaney Thomas accounting for half of those makes. Standout guards Reigan Richardson and Ashlon Jackson went a combined 4-for-27, putting the team in a position to need energy from elsewhere.
“If you've followed us all year, the bench has been pivotal,” Lawson said. “I don't know where we rank in bench points, but I know we consistently have the game changed by players off the bench, and it's different ones.”
Two of the biggest game changers on Lawson’s bench are guards Oluchi Okananwa and Vanessa de Jesus. Energy is critical off the bench, and de Jesus and Okananwa are a yin and yang of sorts.
On one dynamic side, there’s Okananwa, last year’s ACC Sixth Player of the Year. The guard with an endless motor was at it again Friday, leading her team in points and rebounds with 12 of each.
Starting the fourth quarter, Duke was up 37-32 and needed to ward off any chance of a Tar Heel comeback. In the first minute of play, Richardson turned over the ball, giving Reniya Kelly a chance to cut the lead to three. She missed her attempt, and gave the Blue Devils a fastbreak opportunity of their own. Okananwa did what she always does and got down the floor first. She missed her layup, and the rebound bounced towards outstretched North Carolina hands. Somehow, the Boston native got up with the much larger rebounders, snagged the ball and found the bottom of the net on her second attempt, growing the Blue Devils’ lead to seven.
On the other hand, there is de Jesus. The graduate has quite literally been through it all for Lawson, joining Lawson’s first team as a freshman to missing last season with an injury. Off of the bench, de Jesus has been a steadying presence, running the offense in a composed style.
“For me, it's important to bring that composure,” de Jesus said. “Me being a vet and playing in these big games, I think I understand what we need to stay together, and I just kept our composure.”
Friday, de Jesus was in her element. With the rest of the regular ball handlers struggling, de Jesus calmly took the reins and knocked down four shots, playing especially well inside the paint.
“Most people around the country probably didn't have de Jesus on the bingo card today, but we did,” Lawson said. “We know she can change the game for us. I have such belief in all 10 players in my rotation and I know they can change games.”
These two bench point guards both bring very important energies, and one cannot succeed without the other.
“For me, while I do bring energy, I am someone who feeds off my teammates, and I really fed off [de Jesus] today,” Okananwa said. “She was incredible and seeing what she was doing really revitalized me, and it made me even more aggressive and hungry to get done what I needed to get done.”
Wildly enough, Okananwa and de Jesus aren’t the only bench guards who can have a significant impact. This year, with the latter returning from injury, Emma Koabel has seen her minutes significantly reduced, but the Canadian has still made the most of her opportunities.
In Friday’s matchup, the Niagara Prep product only saw the court for four minutes, but made her presence known. Immediately after checking in, she drew an offensive foul on Indya Nivar, then on the Tar Heels’ next trip down the floor, she forced Ustby to travel.
“Our bench has won us a ton of games this year and they continue to give us good minutes,” Lawson said. “Koabel's minutes in the first half, she comes in and makes two big defensive winning plays.”
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Koabel only got a few minutes, but she made them special. Both of her big moments caused the Duke bench to explode and elicited some of the biggest cheers from the Blue Devil faithful.
These performances from Wood, Okananwa, de Jesus and Koabel are what make Duke truly special. For other teams, stars having off games in the Sweet 16 would be a death sentence, for the Blue Devils, it’s just an opportunity for their depth to step up.