Following a trying first half plagued by missed shots and an excessive amount of turnovers, No. 6 Duke managed to overcome a stingy Brigham Young defense and win its season opener 69-54 at Cameron Indoor Stadium Saturday.
Shooting at a 25.7-percent clip and trailing the Cougars (0-1) for most of the first half, the Blue Devils (1-0) knew they needed to change something to counter the scrappy BYU team and its full-court press.
“BYU is an excellent, excellent team, and they’re very, very good,” said head coach Joanne P. McCallie. “To defend with a level of intensity that our team had to defend, with broken play situations, that’s what our schedule affords us.”
Duke started countering its opponent about halfway through the first with its own full-court press and strong defense around the perimeter, making it nearly impossible for the Cougars to shoot from inside the paint. As a result, BYU only had two points from the inside.
The Blue Devils, on the other hand, had 43 points from their frontcourt—mostly from senior forward Karima Christmas, who led the team with 20 points. The team also had eight fast-break points, aided by the quickness of senior All-American Jasmine Thomas and freshman Chloé Wells.
“It’s been a while since we played a team that presses the way we do, and that’s just something that was a bit of a shock at first, but not something we didn’t prepare for. As the game went on, we got better adjusted,” said Thomas, who contributed 14 points and led the team with 11 rebounds. “[Communication] definitely got better throughout the game.... When we’re working so hard and going through so many screens… it’s hard to talk and move at the same time, so something we’re working on is being vocal.”
The increased level of communication among players boosted the Blue Devils into a dominating second half, reducing the number of turnovers—from 12 to 10—and amassing 52 rebounds for the game, never losing the lead they had gained with just over four minutes left in the first.
“I like our team’s fight, and Jasmine getting 11 rebounds—nine defensive—speaks to a certain alertness on the floor, and that was outstanding, defensively and otherwise,” McCallie said. “I know we can play a lot better, and hopefully we can be motivated by that next game.”
Saturday’s matchup proved to be a very physical game, with the Cougars ending the night with 27 team fouls and the Blue Devils with 16. BYU had five players with four fouls while Duke had three players with three apiece.
All five freshmen saw playing time, including Chelsea Gray—who missed the two exhibition games because of lingering foot injuries. Sophomore center Allison Vernerey, who is slowly easing back into the game following preseason injuries, also saw action. Also of note was junior Kathleen Scheer’s presence in the starting lineup. Scheer saw very few minutes her first two years playing at small forward but has begun to define herself as a four this season.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.