Blue Devils Close Regular Season with 73-54 Win at Rival UNC

Sunday, March 1

Chapel Hill, N.C.

2:00 PM

Duke University

18-11,12-6ACC

North Carolina

16-13,7-11ACC

Duke

North Carolina

Blue Devils Close Regular Season with 73-54 Win at Rival UNC

3/1/2020 4:10:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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Blue Devils Close Regular Season with 73-54 Win at Rival UNC

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The Duke women's basketball team closed the regular season in Chapel Hill, N.C., in impressive fashion by rolling to a 73-54 victory over rival North Carolina at Carmichael Arena. The Blue Devils collected their seventh win out of the last eight contests and improved to 18-11 overall and 12-6 in league action.

With the victory, Duke will earn the No. 3 seed in the ACC Tournament and play Friday, March 6 at 8 p.m., aired live on RSN-TV. The Blue Devils will face the winner of the No. 6 seed vs. No. 11/No. 14 seed contest in Greensboro, N.C. It marks the 23^rd time out of the last 25 seasons Duke will be seeded in the top four at the ACC Tournament.

Once again leading the way for the Blue Devils was graduate Haley Gorecki with a game-high 23 points to go along with nine rebounds, five assists and three steals. It marked her 22^nd game over the last two years with 20 or more points to lead the ACC.

Sophomore Miela Goodchild added 12 points, while sophomore Onome Akinbode-James chipped in 10 points for the Blue Devils.

The first quarter featured 10 lead changes and five ties, before Duke went into the break with a 22-19 advantage. After checking in late in the quarter, Goodchild drained a corner three-pointer to give the Blue Devils the lead. The Blue Devils hit 10-of-18 field goals in the quarter for a 55.6 percentage and held an 11-5 advantage on the boards.

Sparked by seven second quarter points by Goodchild, Duke outscored the Tar Heels, 19-13, to take a 41-32 lead into the break. The Blue Devils went on an 11-2 run in the quarter, including all 11 points scored by Gorecki and Goodchild.

Goodchild, a product of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia posted 10 first half points, which marked the first double-digit scoring contest for the guard since January 19 at Clemson.

Along with Goodchild in double-digits in the first half was Gorecki and Akinbode-James with 11 and 10, respectively. As a team, Duke hit 51.6 percent from the field, including 4-of-10 from downtown.

The Blue Devils increased their lead to 14 on two different occasions in the third quarter and featured six different Duke players score. Both teams struggled to close the quarter hitting a combined 2-of-14 field goals, but the Blue Devils led 56-43.

Duke moved its lead to 19 points, 64-45, as Gorecki drained a wide open three-pointer in front of her bench forcing the Tar Heels to call timeout. The Blue Devils opened the fourth on an 8-2 run and never looked back holding UNC to only 11 points over each of the final two quarters. The 54 points was a season low for the Tar Heels.

The Blue Devils held a 43-30 advantage on the boards and limited North Carolina to only 33.3 percent shooting for the game. Duke collected its fifth straight double-digit victory against the Tar Heels.

Junior Jade Williams pulled down a season-high 10 rebounds for Duke, while senior Emily Schubert scored her first collegiate basket to close the game.

North Carolina (16-13, 7-11) was led by Taylor Koenen with 18 points.

#GoDuke