COLLEGE STATION, Texas – In a tight contest for the first 20 minutes, the Duke women's basketball team dropped a 79-58 decision at sixth-ranked Texas A&M Sunday afternoon in Reed Arena. The Blue Devils were outscored, 46-28, in the second half on their way to falling to 1-1 on the season.
Sunday's contest marked homecoming for a trio of Blue Devils from the state of Texas – graduate
Kyra Lambert (Cibolo, Texas), junior
Jade Williams (The Colony, Texas) and sophomore
Uchenna Nwoke (Grand Prairie, Texas).
Duke came out and took the first lead of the contest as senior
Leaonna Odom drained a baseline jumper less than two minutes into the contest. The Aggies (2-0) would go on a 10-2 run and led 16-7, before Blue Devil head coach
Joanne P. McCallie called timeout. Following the timeout, sophomore
Miela Goodchild drained a three-pointer and Odom added a jumper to cut into the Texas A&M lead. At the end of the first quarter, the Blue Devils trailed, 18-12.
Texas A&M would open the second period by taking a 23-14 lead early, but the Blue Devils would storm back with a 9-0 run to even the score, 23-23. Odom, a product of Lompoc, Calif., scored four points during the run, while Williams drained her third three-pointer of the earlier season from the baseline. Duke would go on to miss its final four shots of the second quarter, but only trailed, 33-30.
Odom paced the Blue Devils with eight points and two steals, while freshman
Azana Baines added seven points and two rebounds in 11 minutes in the first half. Duke struggled on the boards allowing 12 offensive rebounds and the Aggies held a 24-14 advantage on the boards at the break.
Texas A&M went on an 8-2 run to open the third period and then an 8-0 run later in the period forcing McCallie to call timeout with Duke trailing, 52-38, with 2:30 remaining in the third. Baines had a great drive to the basket to stop the run and the Blue Devils would end up trailing, 55-44, with 10 minutes remaining.
The Aggies outscored the Blue Devils, 24-14, in the second half. Duke hit only 33.3 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes, while Texas A&M hit 58.1 percent of its shots. The Blue Devils were outrebounded, 47-26.
Three different Blue Devils registered double-digit scoring led by graduate
Haley Gorecki with 16 points, while Goodchild and Baines added 12 points each. A product of Blackwood, N.J., Baines' 12 points was a career high, while pulling down five rebounds in 28 minutes.
Texas A&M's Chennedy Carter led all scorers with 25 points.
The Blue Devils lost their 10
th straight contest against a ranked opponent and 14
th consecutive in true road contests versus ranked foes.
Duke will play its second consecutive road contest as the Blue Devils travel to Las Vegas, Nev., to take on UNLV Thursday, Nov. 14 at 8:30 p.m. (ET). The game will be aired live on the Mountain West Network.
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