Coming off an emotional loss at No. 8 Notre Dame Thursday, one wondered how the Blue Devils and star guard Lexie Brown would respond after the physical contest.
But with its junior star still firing on all cylinders, Duke was razor-sharp from the start of Sunday’s game.
The No. 14 Blue Devils rebounded from the tight 62-58 loss with a resounding 71-43 win against Wake Forest at Cameron Indoor Stadium in their first home game in 10 days. Brown led the way by notching her fourth straight game with at least 20 points, finishing with a stress-free 28, including several buckets during a 21-2 surge in the second quarter that put away the Demon Deacons and ended their three-game winning streak. Three of Brown’s teammates also scored in double figures.
“I’m just really happy, except for the first four minutes or so, it was a good 36 minutes for us to play together as a team,” Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “We had the ball a lot today. We were able to control and make passes so that’s the nature of things right now. We’re heading into February so I think we need to cut loose a little more offensively in terms of how we attack the basket.”
McCallie’s team returned to a welcoming home crowd for just the third time in their last eight games, a stretch in which it has gone 5-3 against some of the best teams in the ACC. After today’s win, the Blue Devils now sit inside the top four spots in the ACC with the hardest part of their conference schedule behind them.
Duke (18-4, 6-3 in the ACC) got off to a slow start offensively, struggling to finish in the paint and committing five turnovers in the first quarter alone. However, the defense stepped up and stifled the Demon Deacons, helping Duke close the period on a 9-2 run. The pivotal quarter was the second period, in which the Blue Devils outscored Wake Forest (13-8, 4-4) 21-7 to essentially put the game away early by building a 37-20 lead.
Brown and redshirt junior Rebecca Greenwell came alive in the second quarter to help key a 15-1 run to give the home team some separation. Brown torched the Demon Deacons for 16 points in the first half alone, including a coast-to-coast layup at the second-quarter buzzer to extend Duke’s lead to 17 at the break.
The Suwanee, Ga., native finished the game shooting 9-of-15 from the field and 4-of-6 from 3-point range, opening things up for her teammates with the Blue Devils firmly in control. Duke turned 25 Wake Forest turnovers into 41 points on the other end, overwhelming a short-handed Demon Deacon side with frequent substitutions to avoid its first losing streak of the year.
“We just said that we were missing the little things at Notre Dame. We had them on their heels for a little bit of that game, but then we just started slipping up on the little things like hustle plays, not talking on defense, not getting our rotations down and going too fast on offense,” Brown said. “We watched a lot of film on that game, really came together as a team and discussed that the little things are so important, and I think we executed doing all of the little things today.”
Greenwell, freshman Leaonna Odom and senior Kendall Cooper all got going after halftime to join Brown in double figures. Odom posted her second career double-double, finishing with 10 points and 11 rebounds, including six boards on offensive end.
“[Odom] is so capable and can do so many things. I’m proud of her for her double-double and her aggression,” McCallie said. “She is just getting better and better. She has seen everything at this point and is settling in and doing great things.”
Wake Forest struggled mightily against Duke’s matchup zone defense, committing 12 turnovers in the first half alone that led to 19 points for the Blue Devils. Besides an early 3-pointer with 7:25 remaining in the second quarter from sophomore forward Elisa Penna, the Demon Deacons went scoreless from the field in the period and made just 6-of-25 field goals in the first half.
Of their six field goals, just two were from inside the 3-point line as Duke’s length frustrated another opponent.
In the second half, Wake Forest’s offense continued to go nowhere against the Blue Devils, whose pressure defense never relented. Several Blue Devils notched multiple steals, including Brown, who added three thefts to another dynamic offensive performance.
Duke has not allowed a team to score 65 points in six straight games.
“Like Coach P. always preaches, it starts on the defensive end,” Brown said. “We had to just ramp up the defensive energy, and defense always leads to offense, so I think that’s how our offense started to get going.”
The Blue Devils will stay at home to host Clemson Thursday before going back on the road at Virginia next Sunday.
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