PHILADELPHIA — With a few seconds left on the shot clock and only 3:30 left in the game, the ball found its way into Karima Christmas’s hands. Forced to take an off-balance shot, she missed, and the ball ricocheted to the side. Emblematic of her performance for the rest of the game, the senior forward dashed to the corner and successfully grabbed her own rebound and drew a foul in the process.
“It was crunch time,” Christmas said. “I was just trying to get a second possession out of it.”
In a game dominated by the senior’s relentless efforts, Christmas scored 23 to lead Duke past DePaul 70-63 at the Liacouras Center, earning the team a berth in the Elite Eight and a rematch against one-seed Connecticut. The Huskies won earlier in the afternoon against four-seed Georgetown in a comeback game in which they trailed for the majority of the second half.
Duke’s first half featured its offensive prowess, with the Blue Devils scoring over 20 points in the game’s first 10 minutes. Although it was the Blue Demons that initially sustained a lead, Christmas’s layup with 13:45 tied the game at 14—from there, Duke never trailed again.
“I think it was a good, strong start, and that was great,” head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “[In the second half], it took us a while to get to that aggressive point that I think we showed in the first 20 minutes.”
Christmas led all players with 14 of her 23 points coming in the first half, all the while displaying steady ball control and not turning the ball over. Most of her success, however, was on the defensive end, where she notched three steals and was tasked with defending DePaul’s leading scorer Keisha Hampton. Hampton, who averaged over 16 points per game on the season, scored only five first half points and turned the ball over three times in that time.
The Blue Devils finished the period with a commanding 41-28 lead and appeared to be on their way to an easy Sweet 16 victory, but things would soon change after the break.
Whereas the first half was a high-scoring and fast-paced battle, both offenses stagnated coming out of the gate in the second period of play. Duke in particular struggled, scoring only two points in the first 7:38, in part due to Christmas picking up two quick fouls and needing to spend time on the bench. Within that span, the Blue Demons narrowed the lead to four.
“That’s another issue—coming out and trying to put together a 40-minute game and trying to be aggressive throughout and not have the ebb and flows that occur,” McCallie said. “We missed some easy shots in the second half, and we gave up some things on the defensive end that made it much more of a basketball game.”
Although the Blue Devils eventually found some offensive rhythm in the second half and even extended their lead back to double digits with under 10 minutes to play, DePaul was not going to go down without a fight—even if that fight were without its star player.
Hampton fouled out with 6:36 remaining, sending the junior forward to the bench and unable to help her team mount a comeback in her hometown of Philadelphia.
“It’s huge. That’s a part of her game that she’s fixing, but she’s still prone to committing fouls,” Blue Demons’ head coach Doug Bruno said.
Despite her absence, DePaul rallied to bring the game within three on multiple occasions within the game’s final minute. In that minute, reserve senior guard Deirdre Naughton made the most of her playing time in what would turn out to be the last game of her career by nailing two threes. Yet Chelsea Gray was able to put the game away at the foul line, hitting four in a row when the Blue Demons resorted to fouling.
Gray had an extremely efficient game, going 5-for-5 from the field and 6-for-6 from the line, resulting in 16 points. Jasmine Thomas was less economical, shooting 6-for-17 in a 19-point effort. She did lead the team with four assists and was critical down the stretch handling the ball, especially when DePaul implemented an aggressive full-court press.
With the win, Thomas and her team are in the Elite Eight for the second straight year. A spot in Indianapolis awaits if the Blue Devils are able to top Connecticut.
“I’m excited for my seniors that we have the opportunity to be in an Elite Eight and compete to get into the Final Four,” the All-American candidate said. “We’re excited for the opportunity, and we’re going to take it for what it is.”
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