After a rough outing to end 2014, the Blue Devils rang in the new year on a good note.
No. 10 Duke dismantled North Carolina A&T 87-36 Friday at Cameron Indoor Stadium in the Blue Devils' final nonconference game. Redshirt freshman Rebecca Greenwell knocked down four 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 20 points, and freshman Azura Stevens added a career-high 19.
Senior Elizabeth Williams only scored eight points, but the center found other ways to contribute, swatting four shots and dishing out a career-high seven assists. Forward Oderah Chidom had six helpers as well, as Duke (9-4) racked up a season-high 26 assists—half of them from frontcourt players Williams and Chidom.
“I love ball movement, I love finding each other. I love that we had two post players lead us in assists and find their teammates," Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie said in her postgame press conference. "Fifteen turnovers isn’t really what we wanted, [we want] 11 or less, but it was in the range of us getting better."
Following Monday's disappointing 83-52 loss at No. 2 Connecticut, McCallie made a lineup change before Friday's game, inserting sophomore forward Kendall Cooper into the starting five instead of senior guard Ka'lia Johnson. The result was a bigger lineup that imposed its will early on against the Aggies (7-7), as Duke doubled up North Carolina A&T 40-20 in the first half.
Led by Stevens, the Blue Devils overpowered the Aggies down low, scoring 46 points in the paint to North Carolina A&T's 10. After being out-rebounded for the first time all season in Monday's loss, Duke regained its sizable advantage in that department Friday, 45-31.
McCallie pointed to Cooper's defensive efforts against the Huskies as signs of the 6-foot-4 forward's improvement, and opted to test out the bigger frontcourt of Cooper, Williams and Stevens against the Aggies.
“Basically we have six starters, and I just went with the bigger lineup," McCallie said of the lineup change. "We can play three guards and the two traditional posts, or we can play three tall women and two guards. So it’s not like [Johnson was benched]. In our Connecticut game, it was everybody’s fault and everyone’s responsible. It was a choice of rotation. If you look at the Connecticut game, our best minutes were with our three bigs in there."
Both players responded to their new roles Friday night. Making her first career start, Cooper made her only shot of the night, finishing with five points and grabbing seven rebounds, and Johnson scored 12 points and got to the free-throw line seven times in 22 minutes of action.
The shift also put Greenwell in more of a ball-handling role, but the Owensboro, Ky., native was still able to look for her shot. The sharpshooter struggled mightily against the Huskies, misfiring on all of her field goal attempts, but shot a crisp 8-of-12 Friday, including 4-of-5 from behind the arc.
“I like it. It’s different playing the point at the start of the game," Greenwell said. "It doesn’t really matter where the ball starts. We move the ball well. If I’m starting from the point, I can still go off screens, and we have plays where I can score off of.”
After a 14-0 run midway through the first half propelled them into halftime with a comfortable lead, the Blue Devils stepped on the accelerator in the final 20 minutes. Duke drilled five 3-pointers and forced nine Aggie give-aways, which led to 17 points on the other end.
The defensive effort spurred the transition offense, as the Blue Devils had given up just eight second-half points with 2:36 remaining in the game. North Carolina A&T shot 21.3 percent for the game and just 18.8 percent in the second half, unable to contend with Duke's length defensively.
“We just came out more focused on defense and our defensive energy, which is really helpful for us, when we focus on our defense first and let the scoring come to us," Stevens said.
For a team that has had trouble following up strong first halves with inspired second acts, Friday's game was a step in the right direction.
“Today we were an okay first half team, but I thought we were a much better second half team," McCallie said. "Shot contesting in particular, shot clock violations—which is really what you want to go for in this kind of game—and then of course finding each other in transition. I really liked the second half—I would have preferred two of those.”
The Blue Devils open ACC play Sunday at 2 p.m. against Wake Forest at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
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