Gorecki, Blue Devils Take Down Rival North Carolina, 71-61

Thursday, February 6

Durham, N.C.

6:00 PM

Duke University

12-10,6-5ACC

North Carolina

16-7,7-5ACC

North Carolina

Duke

Gorecki, Blue Devils Take Down Rival North Carolina, 71-61

2/6/2020 8:22:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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DURHAM, N.C. – Led by an all-around great game by graduate Haley Gorecki, the Duke women's basketball team took down rival North Carolina, 71-61, Thursday evening in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

With the victory, Duke improved to 12-10 overall and 6-5 in the ACC, while the Tar Heels dropped to 16-7, 7-5.

Gorecki, who hails from Palatine, Ill., registered a game-high 25 points, while also pulling down 12 rebounds and dishing eight assists in 39 minutes. It marked her fifth double-double of the season and eighth game this year with 20 or more points.

In the 100^th meeting between the two teams, the Blue Devils moved the all-time series to 50-50.

The first quarter featured eight lead changes and neither team led by more than three points. Redshirt freshman Mikayla Boykin drained a three-pointer with under five seconds remaining in the quarter to give Duke an 18-16 lead. Williams, who is from The Colony, Texas, came up big early with a team-high six points on 3-of-5 shooting to pace the Blue Devils. Six different Duke student-athletes scored in the first 10 minutes.

A product of Clinton, N.C., Boykin sparked the Blue Devils in the second quarter with five points as Duke featured as large as a five-point lead, before heading into halftime with a 34-32 advantage. The Tar Heels held a 13-0 lead in second chance points to keep the contest close.

At the break, Gorecki and Boykin led Duke with eight points each as the Blue Devils hit 45.5 percent from the field. Freshman Azana Baines came off the bench and scored four points, while matching a career high with two blocked shots.

The Blue Devils opened the second half on a 12-0 run and took a 46-32 lead at the 6:04 mark off a jumper from Odom. After a layup by Odom off an assist from graduate Kyra Lambert, Duke featured its biggest lead of the game, 51-35.

North Carolina went on a 9-0 run late in the third quarter to cut the Duke lead to 51-44, but Boykin found a wide open Gorecki for a three-pointer as the clock expired and gave the Blue Devils a 54-44 lead with 10 minutes remaining.

The Tar Heels tried to cut into the lead, but Lambert drained a three-pointer with 5:08 remaining to move the Blue Devil lead back to double-digits, 61-50. North Carolina responded with a 5-0 run forcing Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie to call timeout with the Blue Devils leading 61-55.

Odom fouled out with 2:13 remaining, but Gorecki came up big for Duke collecting a huge steal, rebound, block and dished a breakaway layup to Lambert to help seal the game for the Blue Devils.

Boykin added 11 points for Duke, while Odom and Williams chipped in 10 points each.

The Blue Devils hit 47.5 percent for the game and held the Tar Heels to only 27.1 percent shooting, including 12.5 percent in the third quarter. North Carolina's 27.1 percent shooting was the lowest for it and the lowest Duke has held an opponent this season.

North Carolina was led by Shayla Bennett with 19 points.

Duke will hit the road for the first of two straight road contests at Miami Sunday, Feb. 9 at 2 p.m., live on the ACC Network.

#GoDuke