Head coach Joanne P. McCallie has won all four of her season openers with the Blue Devils, and will look to keep her opening-game win streak alive against Brigham Young Friday night.
No. 8 Duke will make its first-ever appearance at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah at 9 p.m.
“This is one of the more challenging openers I’ve experienced as a coach, given the distance and the talent of BYU,” McCallie said. “BYU is phenomenal in that one through five can all shoot the three.”
Despite the distance, there is familiarity between the two programs. Duke defeated Brigham Young 69-54 at Cameron Indoor Stadium last year to open the season behind 33 combined points from forwards Karima Christmas and Kathleen Scheer.
“They really hurt us last year inside and they have three of those four girls back and they signed [Elizabeth Williams],” Cougar head coach Jeff Judkins said. “Last year we really struggled with Duke’s zone.”
The Cougars went on to finish first in the Mountain West Conference with a 25-9 record, but fell to Utah in the conference tournament and could not secure an at-large bid to the NCAA tournamnt. In the WNIT, Brigham Young reached the Sweet Sixteen.
This season, the team relishes the opportunity to host an elite program in Duke for its season opener.
“It was great for [our program] to get this series,” Judkins said. “I’m glad we are playing Duke. We will learn how to play against really good athletes, a well-coached team and a well-balanced team. [This game] sets the tone for our season.”
Entering its inaugural season in the West Coast Conference, Jenkins will have a younger squad after losing three starters to graduation. Brigham Young will rely heavily on its two returning starters from last year, Kristen Riley and Haley Steed. Riley averaged 8.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game last season at center, and Steed chipped in with 8.5 points per game at point guard.
After struggling in the half-court game against the Blue Devils last season, the Cougars hope to push the tempo to get easy baskets and create openings for their three-point shooters.
Like Brigham Young, Duke lacks experience after losing Christmas, Jasmine Thomas and Krystal Thomas. In their absence, the Blue Devils will turn to sophomore Chelsea Gray to spearhead the offense. The 5-foot-11 guard averaged 8.7 points per game as a freshman and is poised for a breakout year.
“She is talented beyond measure—one of the best passers I’ve seen,” McCallie said. “She is always in attack mode.”
Duke will also look for immediate contributions from highly touted freshman Elizabeth Williams in her first collegiate start. The 6-foot-3 center averaged 19 points and seven rebounds in the Blue Devils’ two exhibition games.
“Her talent is obviously significant, she has a great head, she can play very physical basketball and she can run the floor better than most post players in the country,” McCallie said. “It is just a matter of time before she goes ka-boom.”
A difficult season opener on the road should help this young Blue Devil team get used to hostile locales outside of conference play in anticipation of the postseason.
“We’re not hosting [the NCAA tournament] this year,” McCallie. “The long run is NCAA games will be played on the road in different environments so we might as well get used to it now.”
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