After suffering a double-digit loss to N.C. State Sunday, the Blue Devils were once again overwhelmed by an unranked squad on the road—this time against upset-minded Georgia Tech.
Powered by Kaela Davis’ 24 points and seven rebounds, the Yellow Jackets flew past No. 16 Duke 71-62 Thursday night at McCamish Pavilion in Atlanta. Freshman Azura Stevens and redshirt freshman Rebecca Greenwell scored 16 points apiece, but poor first-half shooting doomed the Blue Devils to their third consecutive loss, placing he squad in an uncomfortable position ahead of the season finale Sunday against North Carolina.
“There’s a certain level of fight that you need to have and we didn’t have it the entire game,” head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “We had it at times…coming within six and pushing back on the lead. But [tonight] was very disappointing. We have people with zero assists playing for 30 minutes. The idea is to play as a team and play for 40 minutes.”
Georgia Tech (16-13, 6-9 in the ACC) used a hot start from behind the arc to take control of the game early. Davis hit two 3-pointers, followed by another trey from junior Aaliyah Whiteside with 10:20 remaining before halftime put the Yellow Jackets up 18-8. In the next possession, long range specialist Katarina Vuckovic would hit another Yellow Jacket three, forcing Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie to call a timeout.
When the Blue Devils (19-9, 10-5) took the floor again, they struggled to make the necessary adjustments, allowing Georgia Tech to shoot almost 40 percent from the field and 38.1 percent from beyond the arc. On the other end, Duke shot 16.7 percent from 3-point land, repeatedly settling for perimeter shots rather than driving toward the basket or feeding the interior presence of Stevens and senior Elizabeth Williams. Williams finished with a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds, but the Blue Devils shot just 3-of-18 from downtown on the evening.
“It’s amazing to me how easily we were taken out of things,” McCallie said. "They’re a pretty physical team. They do a nice job. But [we need to] just focus and be focused. Some people focus on themselves and focus on what they didn’t do rather than what they can do for the team. It’s very frustrating."
The effort was simply not enough to slow down an emotional Yellow Jacket squad hungry to topple a traditional ACC power on senior night. Duke headed to the locker room with just 19 points—its lowest-scoring opening period of the season—and facing a 14-point deficit.
Georgia Tech cooled off slightly in the second half, allowing Duke to make things interesting down the stretch. Late game heroics from Williams brought the Blue Devils back within single digits with less than five minutes to play, but the game remained a multiple possession contest until the final buzzer.
“I’m really disappointed about the way we’ve been on the road,” McCallie said. “I believe that we are a good road team and that we can do neat things, but it’s really disappointing to not do what you are capable of doing.”
With only one game left before the ACC tournament kicks off next week, Sunday’s finale becomes imperative for Duke's NCAA tournament seeding. The top four seeds in each region will host the opening weekend, meaning the game between the No. 16 Blue Devils and No. 15 Tar Heels could go a long way toward determining which team will not have to travel for its first-round game.
Duke won the first meeting with North Carolina 74-67 in overtime in Chapel Hill Jan. 25 behind a career night from Williams.
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