Upcoming Event: Women's Basketball versus Countdown to Craziness on October 3, 2025 at 7 p.m.
/
7 p.m.
Women's Basketball
vs Countdown to Craziness
Tuesday, November 9
Durham, N.C.
7 P.M.
Duke University
vs
Winthrop
Photo by: Duke Athletics
Blue Devils Open Season Tuesday by Hosting Winthrop
11/8/2021 2:39:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Winthrop Eagles at Duke Blue Devils
Tuesday, Nov. 9 • 7:00 PM
Durham, N.C. • ACC Network Extra
Cameron Indoor Stadium (9,314)
Tickets: www.GoDuke.com (1-877-375-3853)
Live Stats: www.GoDuke.com
Radio: Blue Devil Sports Network (WDNC 620 AM, www.GoDuke.com, Varsity Network App)
Radio Talent: Chris Edwards (PXP)
TV/Video: ACC Network Extra
TV Talent: Chris Edwards audio from radio network
Setting the Scene...
The Duke women's basketball team opens the 2021-22 campaign on Tuesday, Nov. 7 at 7 p.m., as the Blue Devils host Winthrop in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
As a reminder, all fans looking to attend the game will have to be COVID-19 vaccinated or have a negative COVID test within the last 72 hours. Everyone in attendance will also be asked to wear a mask inside.
The game will be carried live on ACC Network Extra along with the Blue Devil Sports Network via WDNC AM 620, the Varsity Network app and www.GoDuke.com with Chris Edwards (PXP) on the air beginning at 6:45 p.m. (ET).
What is Next?...
Duke will hit the road for a contest against Dayton on Friday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. It will mark the first road contest for head coach Kara Lawson as the Blue Devil head coach. The contest will be aired live on ESPN+.
A Look at Winthrop...
Winthrop head coach Semeka Randall Lay begins her first season at the permanent helm of the Eagles after serving as interim head coach last year. The Eagles have seven new faces on the roster, while welcoming back three starters -- Myra Strickland (10.6 ppg), J'Mani Ingram (6.1 ppg) and Sydney Hunter (4.4 ppg).
In the Big South preseason poll, Winthrop was picked 11th.
The Series with Winthrop...
Duke and Winthrop will face off for the fifth time in program history, with the Blue Devils leading the series, 4-0. The two teams have only met three times in the last seven years.
In the last meeting, Duke won 101-30 on Dec. 10, 2017 in Cameron Indoor Stadium. All four contests have been played in Durham.
Duke Versus the Big South Conference...
Duke owns a 39-10 record against Big South Conference opponents -- Campbell (4-8), Charleston Southern (3-0), Gardner-Webb (1-0), Hampton (6-0), High Point (2-2), Longwood (2-0), Presbyterian (2-0),
Radford (4-0), UNC Asheville (9-0), USC Upstate (2-0) and Winthrop (4-0). The Blue Devils have won 38 straight contests against the Big South.
Hey, I Know You...
Duke head coach Kara Lawson and Winthrop head coach Semeka Randall Lay were teammates at Tennessee for the 1999-2000 season. Lawson was a freshman, while Lay was a senior.
Tennessee totaled a 33-4 record and made a run to the NCAA Championship game.
Blue Devils Down Wingate in Exhibition...
The Cameron Crazies got their first chance to see the 2021-22 squad in action on Nov. 4 in Cameron Indoor Stadium, with the Blue Devils collecting an 86-50 exhibition victory over Wingate.
Senior Miela Goodchild and junior Celeste Taylor paced the Blue Devils with 18 and 17 points, respectively, while sophomore Nyah Green and freshman Shayeann Day-Wilson chipped in 11 points each.
After a slow start to open the contest, the Blue Devils went on a 33-7 run to take a 42-19 lead at the half. Duke hit 52.9 percent from the field in the second quarter, while limiting the Bulldogs to 16.7 percent from the field.
The Blue Devils were led by Goodchild off the bench with 11 points, including two treys, while Taylor collected 10 points. Taylor hit 4-of-5 field goals in the first quarter and pulled down three boards in 14 minutes. Day-Wilson helped spark the initial Duke run with four points, three assists and one steal.
Seven different Blue Devils scored in the opening 20 minutes as Green added seven points and senior Elizabeth Balogun chipped in five.
Duke continued its hot shooting after it returned from the locker room as the Blue Devils hit 7-of-11 field goals and extended their lead to 58-25. Taylor continued filling the box score in the opening six minutes of the quarter and tallied seven points, three assists, two rebounds, two steals and one blocked shot.
At the end of 30 minutes, the Blue Devils led 61-36 with Taylor (17) and Goodchild (13) in double-digit scoring.
Duke continued to push the pace in the fourth, scoring 15 of 25 points out in transition. Overall, the Blue Devils made 10-of-17 shots in the fourth to close the game with a 36-point victory.
A total of 11 Duke student-athletes scored on the evening, while six added blocked shots.
Lawson Enters Second Season with Blue Devils...
After a decorated playing career, time as a college basketball analyst and a stint as an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics, Kara Lawson is in her second season as Duke's head coach.
Last year, Lawson and the Blue Devils totaled a 3-1 record before COVID-19 shut down the season in late December.
Just a few highlights of Lawson's career -- Celtics first female coach in the franchise's 73-year history, named one of the 100 most influential people in women's college basketball as announced by Silver Waves Media in the summer of 2020, on January 12, 2007, she became the first female analyst for a nationally-televised NBA game, helped USA Basketball 3x3 teams to six gold medals since 2017, played 13 WNBA seasons and helped lead the Sacramento Monarchs to the 2005 WNBA title, WNBA All-Star in 2007, four-time All-SEC selection and two-time All-America choice at Tennessee, 2008 USA Basketball gold medal winning squad in Beijing, China and leading the 2020 USA Basketball 3x3 squad to a Gold Medal in its inaugural Olympics in Tokyo. The list could go on and on...
New Look for the Blue Devils in 2021-22...
Head coach Kara Lawson and her staff brought in seven transfers ahead of the 2021-22 campaign with the addition of Elizabeth Balogun (Louisville), Lexi Gordon (Texas Tech), Amaya Finklea-Guity (Syracuse), Imani Lewis (Wisconsin), Jordyn Oliver (Baylor), Celeste Taylor (Texas) and Nyah Green (Louisville). All seven student-athletes were top-41 recruits, including No. 6 (Taylor), No. 9 (Balogun), No. 11 (Gordon), and No. 12 (Oliver & Green), respectively.
The group of transfers have combined to play in 477 career games with 352 starts and totaled 10,714 minutes played. They have scored 4,223 points, grabbed 2,273 rebounds, dished 519 assists, and blocked 331 shots. The trio of Gordon (15.7), Lewis (15.0), and Taylor (12.3) are coming off averaging double-digit points per game with their respective teams last year.
To go along with the transfers, Lawson added two incoming freshmen -- Lee Volker (Purcellville, Va. - St. Paul VI Catholic) and Shayeann Day-Wilson (Toronto, Ont., Canada - Crestwood Prep). The Blue Devils return five student-athletes from the 2020-21 campaign -- Onome Akinbode-James, Vanessa de Jesus, Miela Goodchild, Jiselle Havas and Jade Williams. They combined to score 61.4 percent of Duke's points last year.
2021-22 Roster Features Impressive Resumes...
With the addition of the transfers to the returning student-athletes from the 2020-21 campaign, Duke's 2021-22 roster features players with a wealth of honors and accolades.
• Five players were McDonald's All-Americans in high school (Jade Williams, Elizabeth Balogun, Nyah Green, Jordyn Oliver and Celeste Taylor).
• Six student-athletes were Jordan Brand All-Americans as prep players (Lexi Gordon, Jade Williams, Elizabeth Balogun, Nyah Green, Jordyn Oliver and Celeste Taylor).
• Seven players represented their respective countries' as members of junior and senior national teams in FIBA tournaments: Celeste Taylor, Jordyn Oliver and Jade Williams (USA Basketball); Elizabeth Balogun and Onome Akinbode-James (Nigeria); Miela Goodchild (Australia) and Shayeann Day-Wilson (Canada).
Storylines/Other Blue Devil Notes...
• The Blue Devils will play five of their first seven contests at home in Cameron Indoor Stadium in 2021-22.
• In the class rankings from wbasketballblog.com, Imani Lewis was No. 32 for the seniors and Celeste Taylor was No. 27 for the junior class.
• Four Blue Devils will return to their home state of Texas on Nov. 21 for the Alabama contest in the Maggie Dixon Classic, which will be played in Fort Worth, Texas at TCU. Jordyn Oliver (Prosper, Texas), Jade Williams (The Colony, Texas), Nyah Green (Allen, Texas) and Lexi Gordon (Fort Worth, Texas) are all from the Longhorn State.
• Elizabeth Balogun steps on the court in 2021-22 with Duke marking the third different ACC squad she has played for. She will be the first women's basketball player in ACC history to play for three different teams in the league (Louisville, Georgia Tech).
• Imani Lewis' 30 career double-doubles currently ranks tied for 23rd nationally in the NCAA for active career leaders.
• Blue Devil senior Elizabeth Balogun represented her home country of Nigeria in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. She appeared in all three contests for the Nigerians and played with former Duke standout Oderah Chidom with Nigeria.
• Duke features three graduate students in 2021-22 that are all attending the Duke Fuqua School of Business -- Amaya Finklea-Guity, Jade Williams and Lexi Gordon.
• Kara Lawson's playing career has her in elite company as she is one of only three NCAA Division I women's basketball coaches to play in a NCAA Final Four, win an Olympic Gold Medal and win a WNBA Championship (Lindsay Whalen of Minnesota and Cynthia Cooper-Dyke of Texas Southern).
• Junior transfer Jordyn Oliver will miss the 2021-22 season, after suffering an achilles injury over the summer.
• Follow @DukeWBB and @KaraLawson20 on Twitter to get the latest updates on Duke women's basketball. Also, "Like" Duke Women's Basketball on Facebook to get the latest videos, pictures and more. DWB is on Instagram at dukewbb, while Kara Lawson is at KaraLawson.
Vote for Balogun, Taylor for Awards...
Each day, the Duke tandem of Celeste Taylor and Elizabeth Balogun need your help to win the top shooting guard and top small forward awards, respectively, from the Naismith Hall of Fame.
Head to http://www.hoophallawards.com/ once a day to vote for the Blue Devils! Get your friends and family to help as well.
Tuesday, Nov. 9 • 7:00 PM
Durham, N.C. • ACC Network Extra
Cameron Indoor Stadium (9,314)
Tickets: www.GoDuke.com (1-877-375-3853)
Live Stats: www.GoDuke.com
Radio: Blue Devil Sports Network (WDNC 620 AM, www.GoDuke.com, Varsity Network App)
Radio Talent: Chris Edwards (PXP)
TV/Video: ACC Network Extra
TV Talent: Chris Edwards audio from radio network
Setting the Scene...
The Duke women's basketball team opens the 2021-22 campaign on Tuesday, Nov. 7 at 7 p.m., as the Blue Devils host Winthrop in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
As a reminder, all fans looking to attend the game will have to be COVID-19 vaccinated or have a negative COVID test within the last 72 hours. Everyone in attendance will also be asked to wear a mask inside.
The game will be carried live on ACC Network Extra along with the Blue Devil Sports Network via WDNC AM 620, the Varsity Network app and www.GoDuke.com with Chris Edwards (PXP) on the air beginning at 6:45 p.m. (ET).
What is Next?...
Duke will hit the road for a contest against Dayton on Friday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. It will mark the first road contest for head coach Kara Lawson as the Blue Devil head coach. The contest will be aired live on ESPN+.
A Look at Winthrop...
Winthrop head coach Semeka Randall Lay begins her first season at the permanent helm of the Eagles after serving as interim head coach last year. The Eagles have seven new faces on the roster, while welcoming back three starters -- Myra Strickland (10.6 ppg), J'Mani Ingram (6.1 ppg) and Sydney Hunter (4.4 ppg).
In the Big South preseason poll, Winthrop was picked 11th.
The Series with Winthrop...
Duke and Winthrop will face off for the fifth time in program history, with the Blue Devils leading the series, 4-0. The two teams have only met three times in the last seven years.
In the last meeting, Duke won 101-30 on Dec. 10, 2017 in Cameron Indoor Stadium. All four contests have been played in Durham.
Duke Versus the Big South Conference...
Duke owns a 39-10 record against Big South Conference opponents -- Campbell (4-8), Charleston Southern (3-0), Gardner-Webb (1-0), Hampton (6-0), High Point (2-2), Longwood (2-0), Presbyterian (2-0),
Radford (4-0), UNC Asheville (9-0), USC Upstate (2-0) and Winthrop (4-0). The Blue Devils have won 38 straight contests against the Big South.
Hey, I Know You...
Duke head coach Kara Lawson and Winthrop head coach Semeka Randall Lay were teammates at Tennessee for the 1999-2000 season. Lawson was a freshman, while Lay was a senior.
Tennessee totaled a 33-4 record and made a run to the NCAA Championship game.
Blue Devils Down Wingate in Exhibition...
The Cameron Crazies got their first chance to see the 2021-22 squad in action on Nov. 4 in Cameron Indoor Stadium, with the Blue Devils collecting an 86-50 exhibition victory over Wingate.
Senior Miela Goodchild and junior Celeste Taylor paced the Blue Devils with 18 and 17 points, respectively, while sophomore Nyah Green and freshman Shayeann Day-Wilson chipped in 11 points each.
After a slow start to open the contest, the Blue Devils went on a 33-7 run to take a 42-19 lead at the half. Duke hit 52.9 percent from the field in the second quarter, while limiting the Bulldogs to 16.7 percent from the field.
The Blue Devils were led by Goodchild off the bench with 11 points, including two treys, while Taylor collected 10 points. Taylor hit 4-of-5 field goals in the first quarter and pulled down three boards in 14 minutes. Day-Wilson helped spark the initial Duke run with four points, three assists and one steal.
Seven different Blue Devils scored in the opening 20 minutes as Green added seven points and senior Elizabeth Balogun chipped in five.
Duke continued its hot shooting after it returned from the locker room as the Blue Devils hit 7-of-11 field goals and extended their lead to 58-25. Taylor continued filling the box score in the opening six minutes of the quarter and tallied seven points, three assists, two rebounds, two steals and one blocked shot.
At the end of 30 minutes, the Blue Devils led 61-36 with Taylor (17) and Goodchild (13) in double-digit scoring.
Duke continued to push the pace in the fourth, scoring 15 of 25 points out in transition. Overall, the Blue Devils made 10-of-17 shots in the fourth to close the game with a 36-point victory.
A total of 11 Duke student-athletes scored on the evening, while six added blocked shots.
Lawson Enters Second Season with Blue Devils...
After a decorated playing career, time as a college basketball analyst and a stint as an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics, Kara Lawson is in her second season as Duke's head coach.
Last year, Lawson and the Blue Devils totaled a 3-1 record before COVID-19 shut down the season in late December.
Just a few highlights of Lawson's career -- Celtics first female coach in the franchise's 73-year history, named one of the 100 most influential people in women's college basketball as announced by Silver Waves Media in the summer of 2020, on January 12, 2007, she became the first female analyst for a nationally-televised NBA game, helped USA Basketball 3x3 teams to six gold medals since 2017, played 13 WNBA seasons and helped lead the Sacramento Monarchs to the 2005 WNBA title, WNBA All-Star in 2007, four-time All-SEC selection and two-time All-America choice at Tennessee, 2008 USA Basketball gold medal winning squad in Beijing, China and leading the 2020 USA Basketball 3x3 squad to a Gold Medal in its inaugural Olympics in Tokyo. The list could go on and on...
New Look for the Blue Devils in 2021-22...
Head coach Kara Lawson and her staff brought in seven transfers ahead of the 2021-22 campaign with the addition of Elizabeth Balogun (Louisville), Lexi Gordon (Texas Tech), Amaya Finklea-Guity (Syracuse), Imani Lewis (Wisconsin), Jordyn Oliver (Baylor), Celeste Taylor (Texas) and Nyah Green (Louisville). All seven student-athletes were top-41 recruits, including No. 6 (Taylor), No. 9 (Balogun), No. 11 (Gordon), and No. 12 (Oliver & Green), respectively.
The group of transfers have combined to play in 477 career games with 352 starts and totaled 10,714 minutes played. They have scored 4,223 points, grabbed 2,273 rebounds, dished 519 assists, and blocked 331 shots. The trio of Gordon (15.7), Lewis (15.0), and Taylor (12.3) are coming off averaging double-digit points per game with their respective teams last year.
To go along with the transfers, Lawson added two incoming freshmen -- Lee Volker (Purcellville, Va. - St. Paul VI Catholic) and Shayeann Day-Wilson (Toronto, Ont., Canada - Crestwood Prep). The Blue Devils return five student-athletes from the 2020-21 campaign -- Onome Akinbode-James, Vanessa de Jesus, Miela Goodchild, Jiselle Havas and Jade Williams. They combined to score 61.4 percent of Duke's points last year.
2021-22 Roster Features Impressive Resumes...
With the addition of the transfers to the returning student-athletes from the 2020-21 campaign, Duke's 2021-22 roster features players with a wealth of honors and accolades.
• Five players were McDonald's All-Americans in high school (Jade Williams, Elizabeth Balogun, Nyah Green, Jordyn Oliver and Celeste Taylor).
• Six student-athletes were Jordan Brand All-Americans as prep players (Lexi Gordon, Jade Williams, Elizabeth Balogun, Nyah Green, Jordyn Oliver and Celeste Taylor).
• Seven players represented their respective countries' as members of junior and senior national teams in FIBA tournaments: Celeste Taylor, Jordyn Oliver and Jade Williams (USA Basketball); Elizabeth Balogun and Onome Akinbode-James (Nigeria); Miela Goodchild (Australia) and Shayeann Day-Wilson (Canada).
Storylines/Other Blue Devil Notes...
• The Blue Devils will play five of their first seven contests at home in Cameron Indoor Stadium in 2021-22.
• In the class rankings from wbasketballblog.com, Imani Lewis was No. 32 for the seniors and Celeste Taylor was No. 27 for the junior class.
• Four Blue Devils will return to their home state of Texas on Nov. 21 for the Alabama contest in the Maggie Dixon Classic, which will be played in Fort Worth, Texas at TCU. Jordyn Oliver (Prosper, Texas), Jade Williams (The Colony, Texas), Nyah Green (Allen, Texas) and Lexi Gordon (Fort Worth, Texas) are all from the Longhorn State.
• Elizabeth Balogun steps on the court in 2021-22 with Duke marking the third different ACC squad she has played for. She will be the first women's basketball player in ACC history to play for three different teams in the league (Louisville, Georgia Tech).
• Imani Lewis' 30 career double-doubles currently ranks tied for 23rd nationally in the NCAA for active career leaders.
• Blue Devil senior Elizabeth Balogun represented her home country of Nigeria in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. She appeared in all three contests for the Nigerians and played with former Duke standout Oderah Chidom with Nigeria.
• Duke features three graduate students in 2021-22 that are all attending the Duke Fuqua School of Business -- Amaya Finklea-Guity, Jade Williams and Lexi Gordon.
• Kara Lawson's playing career has her in elite company as she is one of only three NCAA Division I women's basketball coaches to play in a NCAA Final Four, win an Olympic Gold Medal and win a WNBA Championship (Lindsay Whalen of Minnesota and Cynthia Cooper-Dyke of Texas Southern).
• Junior transfer Jordyn Oliver will miss the 2021-22 season, after suffering an achilles injury over the summer.
• Follow @DukeWBB and @KaraLawson20 on Twitter to get the latest updates on Duke women's basketball. Also, "Like" Duke Women's Basketball on Facebook to get the latest videos, pictures and more. DWB is on Instagram at dukewbb, while Kara Lawson is at KaraLawson.
Vote for Balogun, Taylor for Awards...
Each day, the Duke tandem of Celeste Taylor and Elizabeth Balogun need your help to win the top shooting guard and top small forward awards, respectively, from the Naismith Hall of Fame.
Head to http://www.hoophallawards.com/ once a day to vote for the Blue Devils! Get your friends and family to help as well.
Players Mentioned
F/C
/ Women's Basketball
G/F
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
C
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
G/F
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
F/C
/ Women's BasketballWomen's Basketball Season Ticket Holder Tailgate
Sunday, September 07
Duke WBB: Kara Lawson - 13 Gold Medals. One Standard
Thursday, August 14
Duke WBB Postgame: NCAA Tournament Elite Eight
Sunday, March 30
Duke WBB Postgame: NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen
Friday, March 28
