For the first time in the history of the program, the women's basketball team picked up its 11th Atlantic Coast Conference victory of the season. Against a tough 16th-ranked Tiger team (19-5, 9-5 in the ACC) in Clemson, S.C., No. 12 Duke (22-5, 11-4) captured a 75-65 contest Monday evening.
After falling to an early 23-16 deficit in the opening stanza, the Blue Devils were paced by inspired play from freshman Payton Black, who came in off the bench to contribute a career-high 22 points for Duke. Black came in and single-handedly engineered a Blue Devil rally to put the Tigers down 38-32 at halftime.
The freshman made up for the lack of numbers on the Blue Devil bench, outscoring all eight of Clemson's bench players 22-21. And Black was able to achieve these spectacular numbers in merely 19 minutes of play.
Clemson closed the gap to four early in the second half, at both 38-34 and 40-36, but the Blue Devils managed to pile on a 12-2 run to build a double-digit lead that the Tigers could not cut into until the waning minutes of the second half.
A three-point bucket by Clemson's Amy Geren sliced the Blue Devil lead to seven in the final minute, but a strong defensive front by Duke kept its lead intact.
The Blue Devils even managed to win in spite of missing a dozen attempts from the charity stripe. In the final minute, Duke missed two front ends of one and ones, but offensive rebounds kept the ball in the hands of the Blue Devils.
Although Clemson was sparked by a career night for Jeanette Davis, who notched 15 points and 17 rebounds, only one other Tiger-Stephanie Ridgeway-managed to score in double figures. The Tigers were hampered by a 36.6 shooting percentage from the field, including a dismal 27.5 percent in the second half, while Duke shot 47.1 percent from the floor.
Senior Jennifer Scanlon contributed 17 points for the Blue Devils, while junior Kira Orr and senior Alison Day rounded out the Duke players in double figures with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Day led the rebounding effort with nine.
The victory also assures the Blue Devils at least a tie for second in the ACC standings. At 11-4, Duke has just one regular-season game remaining, as it prepares to face arch-rival North Carolina in Cameron Indoor Stadium on Friday. With a win against the Tar Heels, the Blue Devils could assure themselves sole possession of second place.
In addition to knocking Clemson back in the conference standings, Duke became the only team to defeat the Tigers in Littlejohn Coliseum this season.
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