FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Duke women's basketball team traveled to Fort Myers, Fla., to close non-conference action Sunday at Florida Gulf Coast University and dropped a 78-56 decision at Alico Arena.
The Blue Devils fell to 7-5 on the season, while FGCU improved to 13-2.
Duke was led by graduate student
Haley Gorecki with her third double-double of the season and 12
th of her career as she registered 19 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman
Azana Baines and graduate
Kyra Lambert added 10 points each.
The Blue Devils opened the contest scoring the first five points of the game as junior
Jade Williams connected on two free throws and then Lambert drained her sixth three-pointer of the season.
Both teams struggled shooting the rest of the quarter hitting only 6-of-24 field goals, while Duke turned the ball over 10 times. The Blue Devils were held without a field goal for the final 3:04 of the first and led, 10-8.
Both teams heated up in the second quarter as FGCU outscored the Blue Devils, 28-19, and took a 36-29 lead into the break. FGCU's Nasrin Ulel scored 17 of her 20 first half points in the second to help the Eagles pull ahead by as many as 11.
The 28 second quarter points tied a Duke record for most points allowed by the Blue Devils in the second quarter. The Eagles hit 69.2 percent from the field in the second.
Gorecki, a product of Palatine, Ill., paced the Blue Devils in the first half with 12 points as she scored nine of her 12 in the second.
FGCU continued its hot shooting in the third and outscored Duke, 25-15, led by 16 points from Davion Wingate. The Blue Devils were limited to only 5-of-15 field goals with Baines and Gorecki registering a team-best four points.
In the fourth, FGCU held a 17-12 advantage as Duke was held to 28.6 percent shooting.
The Blue Devils played the contest without its second leading scorer,
Leaonna Odom, as she was dealing with a lower body injury.
Duke finished the contest with 23 turnovers and the Eagles scored 21 points of those turnovers.
FGCU was led by Davion Wingate with 30 points, while Ulel added 27 points. The Eagles hit 11-of-30 treys on the afternoon.
Duke will next host Wake Forest in ACC action in Cameron Indoor Stadium Thursday, Jan. 2 at 6 p.m., live on the ACC Network.
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