Duke women's basketball set to face No. 4 Notre Dame in clash for first place in ACC

Duke senior center Elizabeth Williams is one block away from having 400 in her collegiate career.
Duke senior center Elizabeth Williams is one block away from having 400 in her collegiate career.

The last time the Blue Devils defeated Notre Dame, much of the current Duke roster was just learning how to walk. Eighteen years later, the Blue Devils will look to their young talent to carry them to a crucial conference victory.

No. 11 Duke will look to snap a seven-game losing streak against the Fighting Irish and seize first place in the ACC Monday at 9 p.m., taking on No. 4 Notre Dame at Purcell Pavilion. The Blue Devils enter the contest at 10-2 in conference play—just one loss behind the conference-leading Fighting Irish, who stand at 10-1.

“Every year is different,” Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “This is a different Notre Dame team and this is a different Duke team. They’ve had eight days off and a home game, so this will be the ultimate test.”

Both Duke (19-6, 10-2 in the ACC) and Notre Dame (23-2, 10-1) enter Monday’s matchup on a roll—the Blue Devils have won six games in a row, while the Fighting Irish are riding a nine-game streak. With just two weeks to go before the ACC tournament, both squads find themselves right where many experts predicted them to be—atop the conference.

“The team is improving every day, every practice, every game,” McCallie said. “We’re making strides in what we’re trying to do and we’re getting more aware of each other and how to bring out the best in everybody. We’re becoming more consistent and we’re hungry to do well and play well together.”

The highly-anticipated contest will also feature three Wooden Award finalists in Duke’s Elizabeth Williams and Notre Dame’s Jewell Lloyd and Brianna Turner.

The Fighting Irish are led by Lloyd, a junior who is averaging 20.7 points and 5.1 rebounds per game this season. In years past, Lloyd has been a nightmare for the Blue Devils defensively, as the 5-foot-10 guard averaged 21.3 points per game in the Fighting Irish’s three victories against Duke a year ago.

“It’s very important that we make her work extremely hard on the floor,” McCallie said. “We definitely need to find her in transition early, keep her in front and take away her right hand as much as we can. We need to contest every shot and hopefully hold her below her average.”

With the Blue Devils paying extra attention to Lloyd, the freshman Turner could possibly be the deciding factor for Notre Dame. After spurning Duke for the Fighting Irish during recruiting, the previously second-ranked recruit has had a tremendous season, with averages of 15.0 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. Turner’s ability to score both inside and out will certainly be a tough test for the Blue Devil defense.

For Duke, keeping the game close throughout will require a strong performance from its All-American senior center. Williams averaged only 13.0 points in games against Notre Dame last season and will need to affect the game in a multitude of ways for the Blue Devils to stand a chance. One of the biggest keys for Williams will be staying out of foul trouble. Down to just eight scholarship players, any sort of foul trouble for Duke against a team as talented as the Fighting Irish could be devastating.

Whereas the Blue Devils have looked to take advantage of their size on offense against teams all season, it is hard to imagine them being able to do so against Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish have six players standing 6-foot-2 or taller and have the length and athleticism to make life difficult for Duke. With the size between the two teams serving as a key in the game, the winner of the rebounding battle could be well on its way to victory.

“We need to work on our rebounding and our offensive rebounding and especially making contact with our box-outs,” McCallie said. “I want us to be the most dominant rebounding team in the league by far and we haven’t done that. We always seem to have a half where we’re not attacking as much.”

If points in the paint are hard to come by for the Blue Devils, expect the 3-point shooting of guards Rebecca Greenwell and Ka’lia Johnson to be crucial in Monday’s colossal matchup. Getting Johnson and especially Greenwell—who now holds the Duke freshman record for 3-pointers in a season—going early could help unclog the paint for Williams and freshman Azura Stevens.

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