CORAL GABLES, Fla.—For the second time in as many games, the Blue Devils will be without their star.
Sophomore Azurá Stevens traveled with the team to Miami, but will be sidelined yet again Sunday afternoon by a torn plantar fascia in her left foot. The Raleigh native fought through the injury against No. 3 Notre Dame, playing a full 40 minutes in a home loss Monday night after suffering the injury in the first half, but did not play Thursday in a win against Virginia.
Stevens—the ACC’s double-double leader with 12 this season—is averaging a team-high 19.1 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per contest. She also currently holds a 37-game double-figure scoring streak and is just 13 boards away from reaching 500 in her first two seasons at Duke.
The midseason Wooden Award Candidate and two-time ACC Player of the Week is just one of many Blue Devils who have been sidelined at one point or another already this season. Lynné Belton and Angela Salvadores have dealt with nagging ankle injuries and freshman guard Haley Gorecki has not played since Jan. 3 with a hip injury.
The 6-foot-6 forward’s absence is a big blow to a Duke team that is still in search of its first win against a ranked opponent this season. The Blue Devils are 0-4 against top 25 teams, having lost on the road at No. 2 South Carolina and No. 18 Kentucky, as well as at home to No. 3 Notre Dame and No. 12 Texas A&M.
Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie may once again slot sophomore forward Erin Mathias into the starting lineup at No. 16 Miami in place of the injured Stevens. The Pittsburgh native played a career-high 24 minutes against Virginia Thursday night and was active on the defensive end, pulling down four rebounds.
The Blue Devils tip off against the Hurricanes at 1 p.m.
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Twitter: @mpgladstone13
A junior from just outside Philadelphia, Mitchell is probably reminding you how the Eagles won the Super Bowl this year and that the Phillies are definitely on the rebound. Outside of The Chronicle, he majors in Economics, minors in Statistics and is working toward the PJMS certificate, in addition to playing trombone in the Duke University Marching Band. And if you're getting him a sandwich with beef and cheese outside the state of Pennsylvania, you best not call it a "Philly cheesesteak."