For a Division II women’s basketball program like Queens, the opportunity to play against one of the top teams in the country is unique. Although head coach Cheryl Nix’s Royals faced a Duke squad missing players including Elizabeth Williams due to injury, Sunday’s game at Cameron Indoor Stadium was by no means a close affair.
No. 3 Duke controlled the game early rushing out to a 17-1 lead and by the end of the game racked up an 118-27 advantage, concluding their exhibition calendar.
Despite the high margin of victory, the final score belied the intensity of the game. Queens, though on average two inches shorter than the Blue Devils, fought hard defensively for loose balls and gave their physically superior opponents no free chances.
“Our game plan was to come and compete and represent our program well. I feel like our players fought until the very end,” Nix said. “Our kids kept attacking, and I’m really proud by the way they represented today.”
The Royals used a full court press, which they have been practicing for situations like this, helping cause 28 Duke turnovers. Although Duke had trouble maintaining possession of the ball, head coach Joanne McCallie kept her message positive about improving as regular season play draws closer.
“We did turn the ball over too many times. Some of those turnovers I’m okay with because it’s still getting to know each other with passes,” McCallie said. “Then, with the silly turnovers there’s no excuse there. We always want to have 12 or less, and we were way above that number.”
Although turnovers plagued Duke throughout the game, the Blue Devils dominated the rest of the stat sheet. The team accumulated 67 rebounds in the game. Forward Haley Peters had a career day with 21 rebounds and 20 points in 30 minutes of play.
Rebounding and defense remained a focus heading into Sunday for the Blue Devils, who responded to McCallie’s call to increase intensity on the court. With 10 blocks and 14 steals, Duke stifled the Royals’ offensive game, holding them to 11.4 percent shooting.
“Defensively, I thought we were strong in a lot of areas and also have something to work on,” McCallie said. “Rebounding wise, I thought we weren’t as strong until the second half. We grew a lot as a team in the second half rebounding wise.”
Although hindered by turnovers on the offensive side of the ball, Duke had six players score more than 10 points and had a team total 26 assists, nine of which came from freshman guard Alexis Jones, who played 35 minutes off the bench. Jones dazzled with her drives, shots and passing ability, finishing the day with 22 points and nine rebounds. Her backcourt teammate Chelsea Gray notched 24 points and 9 rebounds.
Sunday showed the Blue Devils depth in spite of the injuries and skill, and Duke is committed to improving with its first regular season game Nov. 17 against Presbyterian.
“I think one thing we have to take away from this is to put two halves together,” Gray said. “We were real sluggish, loose with the ball and very casual in the first half. In the second half we were more composed. We had way too many turnovers—myself included. Making better decisions and putting two halves together is what we have to work on.”
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