With Lexie Brown and Rebecca Greenwell leading the Blue Devils in scoring through three games, it has been easy to overlook Duke's third starting guard—sophomore Kyra Lambert.
On Thursday, Lambert showed why that is a huge mistake.
The Cibolo, Texas, native scored a career-high 17 points to lead the Blue Devils to a 90-47 win against Grand Canyon Thursday evening at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke used a 23-7 second quarter to build a 48-24 halftime lead and coasted from there led by its defense—the Antelopes shot 28.1 percent from the field and were forced to rely mostly on jumpers on offense because of the Blue Devils' strength inside.
Forward Oderah Chidom led Duke in scoring with 18 points, sparking the team's 40-10 edge in points in the paint. Greenwell added 15 points and 10 rebounds to continue her hot start to the year.
“Kyra not only scored points and did some nice things statistically,” Blue Devil head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “But more importantly, she was very commanding on the floor as the point guard, getting people into the right spots and communicating.”
Lambert kicked off her strong performance with back to back 3-pointers at the seven-minute mark of the first quarter as Duke (4-0) traded baskets with Grand Canyon for much of the opening period.
“They came out in what looked like a triangle-and-two defense," Lambert said. "I just tried to take the opportunities and hit a couple shots so they’d break out of it and kind of get off our shooters more.”
Marina Laramie led the way for the Antelopes (1-1) with 22 points—including four 3-pointers—and 12 rebounds and did much of her damage early on to keep her team close.
But McCallie’s team tightened up on defense in the second period to pull away. Lambert attacked the basket more to get several layups and all four of her free-throw attempts in the quarter as the Blue Devils went on a 32-9 run that started late in the first quarter. She finished the first half with 15 points.
Duke's full-court press stifled Grand Canyon, which turned the ball over eight times in the second quarter alone and looked perplexed by the trapping defense, with traveling a persistent problem all game for the Antelopes. Grand Canyon finished the game with 22 turnovers.
The Blue Devils have now allowed just 26 total points in four second quarters this season.
“Our team is enjoying playing defense,” McCallie said. “We’re understanding how to play off each other, follow each other, move the ball. Defensively, we need to be able to force traps better and move our stealers into the right position better so we can attack.”
Although Brown went just 2-of-7 from the field, the Maryland transfer and Lambert led the defense and finished with two steals apiece.
In the second half, with the game largely decided, Duke made feeding the ball into the post a priority. Chidom scored with ease inside against the smaller Grand Canyon frontcourt, finding soft spots in the Antelope zone defense for easy opportunities. Junior Erin Mathias and freshman Leaonna Odom combined for 22 points and 14 rebounds to bolster the Blue Devils' effort up front.
“It was fun to see Oderah play,” McCallie said. “She has a knack for scoring and getting around people. It’s great to say she can do that and she can do that against anybody.”
Following four double-digit wins to begin the season, Duke will face a tougher test in its next game at Vanderbilt Sunday in Nashville, Tenn.
The Commodores (2-1) have wins against Drexel and Kennesaw State but lost at Indiana by 33 points.
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