Duke Opens “KaraEra” with Impressive, 94-64, Win Over Longwood

Wednesday, November 25

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12 P.M.

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Duke Opens “KaraEra” with Impressive, 94-64, Win Over Longwood

11/25/2020 3:47:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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DURHAM, N.C. – The "KaraEra" of Duke women's basketball officially started Wednesday as the Blue Devils turned in an impressive, 94-64, victory over Longwood in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Blue Devil head coach Kara Lawson, who was hired at Duke in July, coached her first collegiate contest Wednesday in front of zero fans and media due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Blue Devils were paced by sophomore Jaida Patrick, who collected a career-high 21 points to go along with seven rebounds and five assists. Junior Onome Akinbode-James added her third collegiate double-double with career highs of 15 points and 16 rebounds.

Duke got off to a hot start scoring the first 10 points of the contest with Patrick scoring six of those points. The Blue Devils would take as large as a 15-point lead, 21-6, late in the first period. At the end of the first, Duke held a 23-10 lead.

The Blue Devils started getting in foul trouble in the second quarter with three starters receiving two fouls each and a total of four with multiple fouls. Duke built an 18-point advantage on five different occasions in the second quarter, before heading into the break with a 44-29 advantage.

The Duke tandem of Patrick and freshman Vanessa de Jesus paced the Blue Devils over the first 20 minutes, combining for 21 of Duke's 44 points. With 11 points in the opening half of her Duke debut, de Jesus led the Blue Devils, hitting 4-of-6 field the field.

As a team, Duke hit 56.7 percent from the field in the first half, while holding the Lancers to 26.8 percent shooting.

The Blue Devils came out in the third period and continued to shoot well hitting 57.1 percent from the field on their way to scoring 30 points in the quarter, which was the fifth most in school history. Duke built a 74-50 advantage with 10 minutes remaining.

Heading into the fourth quarter, all five Duke starters had scored double-digits led by Patrick with 15.

The Blue Devils hit 9-of-15 field goals in the fourth to close the game with a 30-point victory.

Patrick, a product of West Haverstraw, N.Y., had a career afternoon as she made her first collegiate start. The 5-10 guard hit 9-of-13 field goals, 2-of-2 treys and collected two steals to go along with her career-highs of 21 points, seven rebounds and five assists. As a rookie a year ago, Patrick collected 33 total points, 21 rebounds, three assists and four steals in 119 minutes.

For the contest, Duke hit 57.6 percent from the field, held a 53-29 advantage on the boards and dished 19 assists.

In her collegiate debut, de Jesus notched 13 points, four assists, three rebounds and one blocked shot in 30 minutes. She became the first Blue Devil to score 13 or more when starting their first career game since Rebecca Greenwell totaled 17 at Alabama in 2014.

Senior Jade Williams (12) and junior Miela Goodchild (16) also reached double-digits. Sophomore Jada Claude pulled down a career-high 10 boards, while scoring a career-high seven points.

Duke will return to action Sunday, Nov. 29 as the Blue Devils host Western Carolina at 2 p.m., live on ACC Network Extra.

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