After demolishing Wake Forest Friday night, the Blue Devils overpowered a dangerous Boston College squad 66-53 Sunday behind the superior post play of Krystal Thomas and Allison Vernerey.
Boston College (17-8, 4-6 in the ACC) entered Cameron Indoor Stadium with the eighth-ranked scoring offense in the country, averaging 80.8 points per game. Its high-octane attack was led by 6-foot-6 center Carolyn Swords, who came into the game averaging 17.5 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. Swords is usually a force down low for the Eagles, but No. 5 Duke was able to hold her to just six points off of four shots. Moreover, Boston College’s 53 points was its lowest output of the season.
“The plan was just to limit her touches,” Thomas said. “Obviously she’s a prolific scorer, especially around the basket you might as well count it as money. So our plan was to keep the ball out of her hands as much as we could, give her no easy looks.”
While Swords was kept in check in the paint, a variety of Blue Devils made offensive contributions in the first half. Thomas scored eight points with strong moves from the post and an atypical long jumper from the top of the key. Senior Karima Christmas was hustling all over the floor, grabbing four offensive rebounds and scoring most of her eight points on put-backs or in transition.
The Eagles nailed four 3-pointers in the first half that helped them stay in the game, however, and Duke (23-2, 9-1) went into the locker room at halftime holding just a one-point advantage.
The Blue Devils took over the game in the second half with dominant post play from Thomas and Vernerey. Duke kept its offensive tempo at a fast pace—the Blue Devils were running up the floor and feeding the ball down low to either Thomas or Vernerey before the Eagles had a chance to set up their defense.
“I thought Duke found a way to penetrate within our zone,” Boston College head coach Sylvia Crawley said. “They started penetrating baseline, dishing to their post players for easy layups. Once we had those breakdowns within our zone defense, I think it changed the momentum of the game.”
Vernerey finished the game with 15 points, matching a season high. Thomas picked up a double-double by scoring 16 points and pulling down 10 rebounds, and the Blue Devils outscored the Eagles in the paint 48-14.
In addition to shutting down Swords, the Duke defense was also smothering on the perimeter. In the game, the Blue Devils accumulated 13 steals and scored 10 points off fast breaks, while the Eagles scored none.
Boston College guard Jaclyn Thoman was the one exception to Boston College’s poor outside shooting, making things interesting by knocking down five 3-pointers. Thoman was the Eagles’ best offensive weapon, shooting 56 percent from beyond the arc on her way to scoring 21 points and snagging six rebounds.
But Thoman’s sharpshooting wasn’t enough, as Duke’s multitude of scorers put together a 12-2 run that put the game out of reach for the Eagles midway through the second half. Christmas continued to find the hoop as she finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds, and freshman Chelsea Gray was immensely important for the Blue Devils, handing out seven assists and tallying 13 points.
A challenging road matchup now awaits Duke, as the Blue Devils head to College Park Thursday to take on Maryland.
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