Eagles Use Late Run to Take Down Third-Seeded Duke in ACC Tourney

Friday, March 6

Greensboro, N.C.

8:00 PM

Duke University

18-12,12-6ACC

Boston College

20-11,11-7ACC

Boston College

Duke

Eagles Use Late Run to Take Down Third-Seeded Duke in ACC Tourney

3/6/2020 11:03:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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GREENSBORO, N.C. – After the third-seeded Duke women's basketball team used an early fourth quarter run to go ahead by seven, sixth-seeded Boston College utilized a 14-0 run to close the game and take down the Blue Devils, 84-77, in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament in Greensboro, N.C.

The Duke (18-12) tandem of graduate Haley Gorecki and senior Leaonna Odom combined to score 47 points to lead the Blue Devils, while junior Jade Williams added 12 points. Gorecki finished the night with a team-high 25 points, while grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing five assists. Odom added 22 points and five boards as she hit 11-of-18 field goals.

"Obviously an exciting game, a great tournament game," Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. "It was very offensive minded, perhaps a little bit too offensive minded relative to stops we need to do get at critical points. I'm really, really proud of our team being down 9 or 10, I'm not sure, but coming all the way back and doing what we did to go up 7 was great. But you gotta play a full forty minutes and there were plays to finish and rebounds to get and the ball to take care of. So we didn't finish down the stretch."

Duke opened the contest cold missing its first four field goals, but Gorecki drew fouls and drained four straight free throws to get the Blue Devils on the board. Williams connected on Duke's first field goal at the 5:59 mark to put the Blue Devils ahead, 6-4.

Neither team led by more than four points in the first quarter and the Blue Devils were sparked by redshirt sophomore Mikayla Boykin, who drained two three-pointers in her first ACC Tournament appearance. Duke led, 18-17, after the first 10 minutes as Odom and Boykin led the Blue Devils with six points each.

Both teams started heating up on offense in the second quarter combining for 45 points, with the Blue Devils holding a 23-22 advantage. Gorecki and Odom combined for 17 of Duke's 23 second quarter points as the Blue Devils hit 58.8 percent from the field. Boston College drained 4-of-4 treys in the second to keep the Eagles tight.

"They had a good outside game," McCallie said. "We needed to do a better job of ball pressure and taking away passing angles. It's a good lesson about where our focus needs to be and that needs to be on the team side of defense and rebounding and what we're going to see are the put-backs that they got down the stretch that were so critical and some of the possessions that we didn't utilize."

Overall, Duke held a 41-39 lead into the half. The first 20 minutes featured nine lead changes and five ties, while both teams combined for 17 turnovers. Odom led all scorers with 14 first half points, while Gorecki added 13 for the Blue Devils.

After Boston College scored the first five points of the third period, graduate Kyra Lambert drained a three-pointer from the corner, which marked her 12^th straight game with a made trey. Odom would connect on a layup to even the score at 46-46, the Eagles went on an 8-0 run to force McCallie to call timeout with the Blue Devils trailing, 54-46, with 5:46 left in the period.

The Eagles took a nine-point lead, but Williams scored two straight buckets to ignite a 9-2 run by the Blue Devils. Gorecki, who is from Palatine, Ill., drained a three-pointer late in the third and Duke trailed, 61-58, with 10 minutes remaining.

Boston College scored the first basket of the fourth, but Duke came back to score the next four to trail, 63-62. In the run, Lambert drew her third charge of the contest.

Then Lambert drained her second three-pointer of the half and then Williams finished a layup to give Duke its first lead since halftime, 67-65.

Overall, Duke went on a 13-2 run and Gorecki scored seven straight for the Blue Devils as Duke went ahead, 75-68, with 5:51 remaining.

The Eagles responded with a 12-0 run to close the game as the Blue Devils turned the ball over four times during the run. Duke missed its final six shots of the game and did not score over the final 4:45.

Boston College (20-11) was led by Taylor Soule with 26 points.

"There were some great lessons for us, preparing for the future, the Tournament and the whole thing there and learning about time and score," McCallie continued. "Execution. We've had some of that pretty good, but today we didn't execute it fully. Give credit to Boston College. They had some foul trouble as well, so obviously we're excited for them to do well and continue on. It was a great basketball game, disappointing for us, no doubt. But I think some valuable lessons for us moving forward."

Duke will next await the NCAA Tournament selection show, which will take place Monday, March 16.

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