FINAL - Duke 88, Wingate 44: Overall, despite it being a decisive victory for the Blue Devils, they were far from perfect in their win against a clearly overmatched opponent. Duke, while they applied great ball pressure on defense and wreaked havoc all evening on the Bulldog offense, struggled with turnovers themselves and were sloppy with their ball control. Thanks for stopping by, and always stay tuned to the Chronicle sports blog for all pertinent Duke sports information.
Duke 79, Wingate 44, 3:57: Don't stand on the tracks while the train is coming through! Krystal Thomas, not known for her ball handling skills, just had a fastbreak opportunity and an unfortunate Wingate defender tried to draw a charge, taking a hit from Duke's center only to be called for a blocking foul. Krystal has had a very strong half with 10 points.
Duke 73, Wingate 41, 6:25: Tricia Liston knocked down a three for her first career points and then Krystal Thomas displayed some agility under the hoop with an up-and-under for a layup. Scheer just exited the game to a big cheer from the fans after remarkable hustle and eight points this half.
Duke 63, Wingate 41, 9:20: Haley Peters put away her second bucket of the game with a nice bucket as time was expiring on the shot clock. One area where the Bulldogs have outplayed the Blue Devils has been in getting to the charity stripe; Duke is 10/14 from the line, while Wingate is 13/16. Relative to both team's point scoring, The Bulldogs have been getting to the line much more.
Duke 55, Wingate 35, 11:35: Wingate has made a slight push here, bringing the game back at a 20-point margin. The Blue Devils have sent the Bulldogs to the line a number of times and have continued to struggle with ball control, with another five turnovers so far this half.
Duke 53, Wingate 28, 15:33: Kathleen Scheer drained another three and Jasmine Thomas made her second bucket of the second half to further Duke's lead. Crazy Towel Guy is now in attendance and did his signature wave - he's probably coming from the women's soccer ACC tournament game, which the Blue Devils lost 1-0.
Duke 48, Wingate 26, 17:30: Duke has started the first half with a bang, topped off by a Kathleen Scheer three pointer - ending their drought from downtown. McCallie is being aggressive with her lineup, playing Krystal Thomas despite her three fouls.
HALFTIME: The Chronicle has learned that Jasmine Thomas did not start due to a violation of team rules. Richa Jackson has also not played for the entire first half due to a violation of team rules, and likely will not see action for the entire game due to this. According to the Duke sports information department, it was not the same violation. Also, the word from Duke is that they are just being very cautious with Gray, who as mentioned before is sitting with foot soreness. The team trying to let the injury rest up before serious competition begins.
-Some men's players have shown up in support of the team: freshmen Josh Hairston, Kyrie Irving and Tyler Thornton
Duke 39, Wingate 23, HALFTIME: The stat of the first half is 16. Why? That's the number of turnovers Wingate had in the first half. The Duke pressure absolutely killed the Bulldogs as a pattern developed where Duke would make a bucket, then Wingate would turn the ball over before reaching half-court. The Blue Devils have 10 steals, but have also struggled with ball control yielding 12 turnovers. Krystal Thomas, who has struggled with fouls in the past, has done the same this evening with three in the first half. In fairness to Duke's center, two of the fouls seem like they've been just because she's so much bigger than the opponent she's guarding. Jasmine Thomas leads Duke with 16 points, but overall Duke's perimiter offense has been stale having only made one of 12 three point attempts.
Duke 31, Wingate 17, 3:32: The Bulldogs just called a timeout after another Duke bucket coming from their press. Wingate has consistently failed to get the ball past the half-court line on offense with seemingly no answer to the press. This is Duke's largest lead of the game at 14.
Duke 26, Wingate 17, 4:43: Wingate has continued to struggle with Duke's pressure and Duke has capitalized. Jasmine Thomas and Shay Selby made the highlight reel, executing an alley-oop layup off of an inbound pass. Still, Duke has played far from a perfect game with eight turnovers already. They have also struggled mightily behind the arc, going just 1-10 on threes. Jasmine Thomas now leads all scorers with 10 points. Another important note for tonight's game is that prized freshman recruit Chelsea Gray is seemingly not dressed for action on the bench. She has been struggling with a sore foot, which has limited her time.
Duke 17, Wingate 11, 9:21: Duke has pulled back ahead, in large part due to their defensive pressure. Wingate has failed to get the ball up-court on two consecutive possessions due to the Blue Devils' press. Currently, Christmas leads all scorers with six points.
Duke 11, Wingate 11, 11:01: Wingate has made a bit of a run here, tying the game up with their fast paced play. They've been pushing the ball probably to avoid Duke's press, which has given them a little trouble already. Kicking off the run was a three by Bulldog guard Tiffany Brown.
Duke 9, Wingate 4, 12:49: Duke scored another bucket on a Jasmine Thomas put-back following a Chloe Wells miss. Overall, the game has been a little sloppy for both teams with a number of missed shots and turnovers. Peters just earned some hustle points by diving to the floor for a loose ball that was caught between two Bulldog defenders. Freshman Tricia Liston has also made her first appearance of the season now.
Duke 7, Wingate 4, 15:54: The Blue Devils have pulled ahead behind a nice three point play by Karima Christmas and a difficult bucket off an offensive rebound by Kathleen Scheer. Chloe Wells subbed in for Haley Peters, making her first appearance in her young Dke career.
Duke 2, Wingate 2, 19:00: Size will definitely be an issue for Wingate as Krystal Thomas blocked two shots down low on their first possession, but Wingate recovered and broke the ice with the first bucket of the game. Shay Selby responded with a nifty layup for Duke.
PREGAME: Good evening and welcome to The Chronicle's live blog of tonight's women's basketball exhibition against the Wingate Bulldogs. Stay tuned here for live in-game updates, scores and nuggets of always fascinating information.
-With three minutes until game time, the women have just taken the floor and are taking their foul shots as is their practice.
-Starting for Duke are Shay Selby, Karima Chirstmas, Kathleen Scheer, Haley Peters and Krystal Thomas. Peters is the only freshman in that group. Curious why senior and top Duke player Jasmine Thomas isn't starting, we'll look into it for you.
-From an early look, the Bulldogs are definitely ceding a size advantage to Duke. Their tallest starter, forward Simone Rutledge, is listed at 6-foot-0 while Duke center Krystal Thomas looms at 6-foot-5.
-Notably, nobody shouted the "O" during the national anthem, which has become a small controversy after Coach K upset some fans by asking people to stop. Guess, Crazy Towel Guy isn't here, because he did it during the women's Blue/White game.
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