Playing their third game without leading scorer and rebounder Azurá Stevens, the Blue Devils had to get a big night from their forwards against a strong Seminole frontcourt.
But foul trouble got in the way.
The Blue Devils fell 69-53 to No. 10 Florida State Thursday at Cameron Indoor Stadium as starters Oderah Chidom and Amber Henson were mired in foul trouble all night. The Seminoles arrived in Durham on a nine-game winning streak against ACC opponents, and added to that tally thanks to a balanced offensive attack, with seven players scoring at least six points.
Chidom and Henson picked up two fouls apiece in the opening three minutes, limiting their minutes and hampering their aggressiveness the rest of the way. The two combined for just 12 points and eight rebounds, with Chidom eventually fouling out of the contest with 6:57 left.
"[Lyneé Belton's] knee wasn’t working for her and so we were left with Amber playing all her minutes and then Erin [Mathias], and so it became a little bit thinner inside,” Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “We can’t have Oderah fouling out in 19 minutes—I can tell you that’s going to hurt us right there.”
The Blue Devils (17-9, 6-6 in the ACC) showed remnants of Sunday’s offensive sluggishness against Miami—which held Duke to just 11 points in the first half—as they took nearly four minutes to score against the Seminoles (20-4, 10-1) and ended the first quarter shooting 28.6 percent from the floor. At the other end of the court, Duke felt the absence of Stevens as forward Ivey Slaughter scored Florida State’s first six points to give her team an early 8-2 lead.
The Seminoles boast the second best scoring defense in the ACC—allowing just 54.0 points per game—and put that tenacity on display from the opening tip. The Blue Devils' early offensive woes continued as the team made just two of its final eight shots of the opening period, with the down-low duo of Chidom and Henson held scoreless in the first quarter. Duke failed find anything from long distance, either, as the team finished the night just 3-of-9 from beyond the arc.
Even the charity stripe was unkind to the Blue Devils, who shot 10-of-20 on free throws.
The team’s guards provided the early bright spot for McCallie’s squad, with Rebecca Greenwell and Angela Salvadores combining for nine points and five rebounds in the first period. For the game, Salvadores led the way with 13 points and a team-high seven rebounds despite her 5-foot-10 frame.
“I think Angela played the best game of anybody today,” McCallie said. “The team has to come together and understand that it’s more than statistics. It’s about how we’re going to connect and feed off each other.”
Florida State carried the offensive momentum from its 15-11 first-quarter lead into the second frame, beginning the period with a 7-1 run to stretch its lead to 10 points while Duke continued to struggle. Both Henson and Chidom picked up their third fouls early in the period as the Seminoles continued to thrive down low, with forwards Adut Buldak and Maria Conde combining for eight of Florida State’s 12 points during the quarter. The Seminoles outperformed the Blue Devils on the glass as well, outrebounding Duke 23-20 in the opening half and eventually winning the battle on the boards 43-32.
The Blue Devils improved on their two-point second quarter showing Sunday against Miami, but not enough to narrow the Seminole lead. Florida State’s lockdown defense continued, and several Blue Devils missed open layups, one reason why the team went just 7-for-27 from the floor in the first half and headed to the locker room trailing 27-20.
"I think we had a lot of easy looks at the basket and we would pump fake and kind of fade away, instead of going into them and getting fouled," Greenwell said. "We definitely had a lot of missed opportunities.”
Guards Brittany Brown, Leticia Romero and Emiah Bingley scored six of Florida State's’ first eight points of the third quarter as the lead continued to grow. Although the Seminole guards did not headline their team's offensive efforts, they were quietly effective, combining for 10 assists by games end compared to just two for Duke’s starting guards.
Salvadores continued to carry the load for her team after intermission, leading her team with 11 points by the end of the third period. The freshman provided a spark by draining a 3-pointer to beat the buzzer, but her team still trailed 47-37.
Duke narrowed the margin to 49-42 after a Greenwell 3-pointer with 6:14 left, but the Blue Devils could not stop the Seminoles inside after Chidom fouled out. Junior center Kai James came alive in the final minutes for the Seminoles, leading her team with nine points during the quarter and stifling a Blue Devil comeback. James’ push was part of a dominant performance by the Seminoles’ bench, which outscored Duke’s 35-12.
“The fact is that their bench won it for them,” McCallie said. “When you have 35 bench points to 12, there’s the game. There’s nothing else to discuss.... You look at [Kai James], she was critical in what she did.”
The Blue Devils will face Wake Forest Sunday afternoon in Winston-Salem, N.C., trying to get back on track as the end of the regular season approaches, with or without Stevens.
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