Duke women's basketball looks to bounce back against Virginia

Although Duke dropped a close game Monday night against No. 3 Notre Dame, the versatility the Blue Devils showed as a team will help them navigate the rest of a grueling ACC schedule.

Monday’s 68-61 loss snapped Duke’s four-game winning streak, so the Blue Devils will try to start a new one against Virginia Thursday at 7 p.m. at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke held a late lead against the Fighting Irish—the latest sign that a young squad is beginning to figure things out, in part by relying on the dynamic duo of sophomore Azurá Stevens and redshirt sophomore Rebecca Greenwell.

“I hope that we’re growing old by now with some of the games that we’ve played. I really love our schedule. I love how it prepares us, coming off a tough loss and learning lessons there and just applying it to [the next game],” Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “You’ve got to take it personally. You’ve got to get after it and have fun with it.”

Stevens has always been a force on the inside for the Blue Devils (16-7, 5-4 in the ACC), gobbling up rebounds and finishing at an efficient 55 percent clip from the field this season, with many of her looks coming close to the basket. The 6-foot-6 forward also leads the ACC with 95 offensive boards and has already posted 12 double-doubles.

Stevens has become even more dangerous during the past three weeks, though, by stepping away from the basket and adding another layer to her game. The Raleigh native has knocked down 10-of-17 3-point attempts in her last five games, averaging 23.2 points per game during that span to increase her scoring average to 19.1 points per contest.

After making only six triples during the first 17 games of the season, Stevens is now shooting them with confidence and transforming herself into a bona fide perimeter threat to supplement her dominance on the interior.

“She’s trying to grow her game to the point where she can dominate inside and out,” McCallie said. “She’s just learning how to do that and really put it together. We’re really excited about her aggressiveness and wanting her to attack.”

Greenwell came to Duke with a reputation as a shooter, and she has more than lived up to that label. With her two triples Monday night, the Owensboro, Ky., native moved into a tie for 10th on the Blue Devils’ all-time made 3-pointers list with 128 in just her second year on the floor.

But Greenwell made an impact on the game against the Fighting Irish in other ways, leading the team with nine rebounds to match her season-high and chasing loose balls all over the floor. After diving into the scorer’s table and opening up a cut on her shoulder in the middle of the third quarter, she missed all of one possession before re-entering the game.

“She’s very tough, a fierce competitor, and she’s doing great,” McCallie said. “She’s a special player. She’s more than a shooter—she’s a hustler, she’s a fighter and she’s growing her game, and that was a great example of her hustle.”

The tandem leads the ACC with 33.6 points per game, and Stevens and Greenwell will both look to continue their impressive stretches against the Cavaliers (13-9, 3-5), who are slumping with three straight losses. Virginia opened conference play with a convincing 76-56 win against then-No. 22 Miami Jan. 3, but the Cavaliers will be missing a key piece from that win when they travel to Durham.

Senior Faith Randolph—the only senior on Virginia’s roster and its second-leading scorer—broke her thumb during the Cavaliers’ second ACC game against Notre Dame and has missed the last six contests. Virginia has struggled without her veteran leadership in the backcourt and now has just two healthy upperclassmen on its roster. The Cavaliers now rely heavily on sophomore guard Mikayla Venson, who averages 15.1 points per game and has led the team in scoring in five of six games during Randolph’s absence.

“Certainly Randolph is a very good player—brings some experience, can shoot the ball, play off the bounce—and then she’s just a great guard all the way around,” McCallie said. “[But] they’re a very good team overall in a sense of their athleticism and their guard play.”

The Cavaliers’ tallest starter is 6-foot-2 sophomore Lauren Moses, which will make it particularly difficult to game-plan for Stevens. They may have to concede the outside shot like opponents have done in the past to limit Stevens’ easy looks in the post, but if Stevens stays hot from beyond the arc, Thursday’s game could start the beginning of another winning streak for Duke.