Duke Falls on the Road at Nebraska in Big Ten/ACC Challenge

Wednesday, December 4

Lincoln, Neb.

7:00 PM

Duke University

6-3,0-0ACC

Nebraska

8-1,0-0Big Ten

Duke

Nebraska

Duke Falls on the Road at Nebraska in Big Ten/ACC Challenge

12/4/2019 9:46:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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LINCOLN, Neb. – In a tightly contested Big Ten/ACC Challenge contest, the Duke women's basketball team dropped an 83-79 decision at Nebraska Wednesday evening at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Neb.

Senior Leaonna Odom scored 11 fourth quarter points and led Duke (6-3) with a game-high 20 points, while graduate Haley Gorecki had 14 points, sophomore Miela Goodchild had 15 and sophomore Onome Akinbode-James added a season-high 13 points.

The Blue Devils and Cornhuskers were in a tight battle in the first quarter as neither team led by more than three points, before Nebraska took a 21-20 lead into the break. Nebraska drained four first quarter three-pointers to help pace the Cornhuskers.

Gorecki and Goodchild combined to score Duke's first 10 points of the second period and the Blue Devils built as big as a four-point lead, 25-21. Nebraska continued its hot shooting from three-point land and went on a 19-7 run to take a 47-37 lead at the 3:07 mark. Akinbode-James scored nine of her 11 first half points in the second quarter, including an old-fashioned three-point play to help bring the Blue Devils back. Duke closed the half on an 8-2 run to only trail, 49-45.

Both teams combined to score 53 points in the second quarter and missed only 14 shots. Nebraska hit 61.1 percent, while Duke hit 58.8 percent from the field in the quarter. The Blue Devils closed the first half hitting a season-best 61.3 percent.

Duke was led by Akinbode-James and Goodchild with 11 points each, while Gorecki added 10 points. Nebraska drained eight three-pointers over the first 20 minutes.

Although Duke missed its first five shots of the third, the Blue Devils held the Cornhuskers without a field goal for over three minutes and was able to take a 51-49 lead off a jumper from Goodchild. The Blue Devils hit only 6-of-17 field goals in the third and trailed 65-62 heading into the final period.

Nebraska built a five-point lead, 70-65, off another Cornhusker three-pointer, but the Blue Devils came back with a 4-0 run off buckets from Odom and Akinbode-James. With 44 seconds left, Nebraska connected on two free throws to take a 79-74 lead, but graduate Kyra Lambert sped down the floor and finished a layup to cut the lead to 79-77 with 37.2 seconds left.

After Nebraska hit another two free throws to go back ahead by four, Odom scored her 16^th second half point and Duke trailed, 81-79, with 11.5 second remaining. The Cornhuskers turned the ball over on the inbounds pass, but Duke turned the ball over.

Nebraska (8-1) was led by Taylor Kissinger with 19 points. The Cornhuskers drained 12 treys in the contest. The Blue Devils outscored Nebraska, 52-26, in the paint.

Duke will return home to host Boston College in its ACC opener Sunday, Dec. 8 at 2 p.m., in Cameron Indoor Stadium. The game will be aired on ACC Network Extra.

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