One of the nation’s best guard duos shined when their team needed them the most—in the second half against a ranked opponent.
No. 2 Duke notched its ninth victory of the season, beating No.16 Purdue 99-78 at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Thursday night. Senior guard Chelsea Gray scored 16 points and added nine assists, and her backcourt accomplice, Alexis Jones, had a season-high 22 points along with five assists.
“From a team perspective, the second half was more of what we were looking for defensively, rebounding-wise—also scoring-wise and attacking,” head coach Joanne P. McCallie said.
After walking into the locker room trailing 44-41 at halftime, the Blue Devils (9-0) eliminated the small deficit but could not gain an advantage on Purdue (5-2). The Boilermakers remained in the game, even taking a 57-56 lead with 14:48 remaining.
The Blue Devils were leading 67-62 with 11:54 to play, when Gray drained a three-point shot that sparked a 32-16 run to end the game.
“[In the first half,] They were very aggressive and disruptive [defensively],” Gray said. “We just needed to calm down, go with the flow and run our offense.”
From there it was all Duke.
Senior forward Haley Peters also came alive in the final 20 minutes, scoring 12 of her 14 points in the second half. Peters had missed the team’s last four games due to a knee injury she sustained Nov. 21 against Vanderbilt.
“It is just great to have her back," McCallie said. "I do think it took a little time, but she got to her feisty self. It was nice to see,”
The defense held the Boilermakers to just nine second-half field goals and conceded nine turnovers in that span. Duke took advantage of Purdue's turnovers all game, scoring 29 points off the Boilermakers’ mistakes. Jones registered three steals, which helped lead to 25 fast-break points for the Blue Devils.
“I was just going with the flow of the game, just trying to get stops and get us back in the game,” Jones said.
Behind this play, Duke extended their lead to 89-72 late in the second half and did not look back.
Initially, the Blue Devils fell behind midway through the first half when the Boilermakers went on a commanding 16-8 run that gave them a 26-19 lead with 10:59 until the break.
“Defensively, we could not stop them at all. We were even on the boards at halftime. Those were the two things that were hurting us,” Gray said. “Defensively, we weren’t where we needed to be.”
Forward Elizabeth Williams, who averages 15 points and 6.3 rebounds per game, found herself in foul trouble early and played only eight minutes in the opening period. Tricia Liston, Duke’s leading scorer, was held to just two points in the first half and did not hit a shot from three point range all game.
Purdue senior guard Courtney Moses hurt her ankle early in the first period and returned but was limited by her injury and only scored eight points in 26 minutes. Moses was named to the Naismith Trophy Early Watch list last week. Redshirt senior guard KK Houser filled the scoring void and led the Boilermakers with 20 points.
Despite the blowout win McCallie would like to see her team perform better in the first half.
“We have to figure out a way to play two halves,” McCallie said. “We can be an elite special team that plays two halves and other teams cannot deal with us. That would be the kind of the team that we want to create."
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