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
Sunday, December 5
Philadelphia, PA
1 P.M.
Duke University
at
Penn
Photo by: Duke Athletics
Blue Devils Head North to Face Penn on Sunday
12/4/2021 11:54:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Duke Blue Devils (7-0) at Penn Quakers (4-4)
Sunday, Dec. 5 • 1:00 PM
Philadelphia, Pa. • ESPN+
The Palestra (8,722)
Tickets: www.PennAthletics.com (215-898-6151)
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: ESPN+
TV Talent: Dan Fritz (PXP), Jake Galli (Color), Renee Washington (Sideline)
Game Notes l Watch Live on ESPN+ l Listen Live l Live Stats l Twitter l Duke Media Hub
Setting the Scene...
After registering a top-10 win on Thursday, the Duke women's basketball team (7-0) will travel to Philadelphia, Pa., for another non-conference contest at Penn (4-4) Sunday, Dec. 5 at 1 p.m., at The Palestra.
The game will be carried live on ESPN+ with Dan Fritz (PXP), Jake Galli (Color) and Renee Washington (Sideline) calling the action. It will also be carried on the Blue Devil Sports Network via WDNC AM 620, the Varsity Network app and www.GoDuke.com with Chris Edwards (PXP) on the air at 12:45 p.m.
What is Next?...
Duke will be off for exam break, before returning to action against No. 1 South Carolina on Dec. 15 at 7 p.m., in Cameron Indoor Stadium. The game will be aired live on ACC Network.
A Look at Penn...
Penn enters the contest with a 4-4 overall record following back-to-back losses against La Salle and Bucknell. Kayla Padilla (22.5 points, 19 treys), Jordan Obi (15.3 points, 7.3 rebounds), Mia Lakstigala (14.5 points, 7.5 rebounds) and Mandy McGurk (10.8 points) have paced the Quakers so far on the season.
The Series with Penn...
Duke and Penn will face off for the fifth time in program history, with Duke leading the series, 4-0. The two teams have met three times in the last six years.
In the last contest, Duke won 66-50 on Nov. 29, 2019, in Durham. The Blue Devils are 3-0 in home games and 1-0 in games played at Penn, which took place in 2015.
Duke will play its eighth contest in the city of Philadelphia, while holding a 5-2 ledger overall.
Duke Versus the Ivy League Conference...
Duke owns a 12-0 ledger against opponents in the Ivy League Conference -- Dartmouth (1-0), Harvard (3-0), Pennsylvania (4-0), Princeton (3-0), and Yale (1-0).
Storylines/Other Blue Devil Notes...
• Penn's Kayla Padilla and Duke's Shayeann Day-Wilson will step on the court together Sunday featuring two of the best 3-point shooting outputs on the season. Padilla drained nine 3-pointers against Memphis, while Day-Wilson sank eight versus Troy.
• Entering Thursday's games, unranked teams were 0-47 versus top-10 opponents on the season, before Duke knocked off No. 9 Iowa. The current record is 1-48 with the lone win coming by the Blue Devils. The 15-point win over Iowa was the largest margin of victory over a top-10 team since defeating FSU by 13 the 2017-18 season.
• Duke is the only team in the ACC to have scored 70+ points in every contest it has played this season.
• Freshman Shayeann Day-Wilson has hit 14-of-21 treys the last three games, including 12-of-17 the last two contests. Her 18 three-pointers on the season ranks as the second-most by a freshman nationally (Isabelle Mauricio of Brown and Tess Myers of Duquesne own 22).
• Duke is 31-3 all-time in the game after defeating a top-10 opponent. Two of the three losses have come in either the ACC or NCAA Tournament.
• Duke has allowed 75 points or less in every game under Kara Lawson as head coach. The 11-straight games allowing 75 points or less is the longest streak since the 2019-20 season when the Blue Devils allowed less than 75 points in 17 straight contests.
• The Blue Devils have posted 20+ points in the first quarter in six of the seven contests this season, while averaging 21.0 points in the quarter. Duke has led after the first 10 minutes in each of the seven games, while also holding opponents to only 12.0 points a game in the first quarter.
• Duke has won 10 straight non-conference games, the most since 2012-13 season, when the Blue Devils won 10 in a row. The next longest was 14 in a row in 2010-11.
• Duke scored 33 points in the third quarter against App State, which was the second-most in a quarter by the Blue Devils in school history. The Blue Devils outscored the Mountaineers, 33-13, in the quarter and went on to win the contest.
• Amaya Finklea-Guity came off the bench to score 11 points and pull down five boards in 18 minutes against App State - all season highs. She added seven points and four rebounds in 10 minutes versus Troy.
• The Blue Devils feature eight different players that have drained at least one 3-pointer on the season, while five have hit four or more.
• This is the first time Duke is 7-0 to start a season since 2013-14, when the Blue Devils opened with a 10-0 ledger.
• Since arriving at Duke, Vanessa de Jesus has produced a 2.2 assist/turnover ratio (42/19).
• Duke has scored 233 points off the bench in seven games for an average of 33.3, while its opponents are averaging only 9.6 a contest.
• In the 11 games under Kara Lawson since arriving, Duke has scored 70+ points in 10 of the 11 contests. The Blue Devils have won every game in which they have scored 70 points or more. The only loss was to Louisville, 73-49, last season.
• Duke has scored 70+ points in each of the first seven games in 2021-22, which marks the first time the Blue Devils have scored 70+ points in each of the first seven contests of the season since the 2013-14 campaign, when Duke collected 70+ points in the first 10 contests.
• In 11 games over the last two years under Kara Lawson, the Blue Devils have drained 91 treys for an average of 8.3 a contest.
• 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.
• Elizabeth Balogun steps on the court in 2021-22 with Duke marking the third different ACC squad she has played for. She is 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 entered the season ranking 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.
Impressive Numbers...
Celeste Taylor is one of only five guards nationally to collect 17 points, 13 rebounds, two assists and two blocks in a game this season. She accomplished the mark against No. 9 Iowa.
Shayeann Day-Wilson is one of four freshman nationally to register 19 points, four rebounds, four assists and four steals in a game on the year.
Milestone Watch...
• Graduate Student Jade Williams is one point away from reaching the 700-point ledger, while senior Elizabeth Balogun is 12 points from 900 and graduate student Lexi Gordon is 13 points from 800 for their careers.
• Miela Goodchild needs 12 three-pointers to move into a tie for 10th on Duke's career 3-pointers made list. She owns 130 over four seasons.
Top Freshman...
Duke rookie Shayeann Day-Wilson is the top freshman scorer in the ACC with a 13.1 per game average, while her 3.86 assist average ranks second among league rookies (Olivia Miles of Notre Dame, 7.0).
With her effort this past week, Day-Wilson earned ACC Freshman of the Week on Nov. 29. She averaged 20.0 points, 4.5 assists and 4.0 rebounds as she helped lead the Blue Devils to victories over Appalachian State and Troy this past week. She hit 10-of-14 three-pointers and 15-of-24 field goals between the two contests.
Day-Wilson Providing a Spark...
Rookie Shayeann Day-Wilson has provided a big spark off the bench to open the season and stepped it up a notch against Troy with a career-high 26 points and a school-record tying eight three-pointers. Day-Wilson hit 8-of-10 three-pointers, 9-of-14 field goals, grabbed five boards and dished four assists in a career-high 32 minutes. The eight treys matched a school record held by Miela Goodchild and Rebecca Greenwell. She also equaled the Blue Devil freshman record of eight held by Goodchild.
With her 26 points, five rebounds and four assists, Day-Wilson joins Duke great Alana Beard as the only Blue Devil freshmen to score 26 or more points, have five rebounds and four assists in a game. Beard accomplished the mark on Dec. 30, 2000 against Iowa State with 27 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Since 2009-10, only Day-Wilson, Kelsey Mitchell of Ohio State and Jacki Bigham of Oral Roberts have collected 26 points, five rebounds, four assists and eight made 3-pointers in a single game.
Day-Wilson is one of only three freshmen nationally to drain eight or more treys in a single game -- Ally Stedman of Pepperdine and Esmeralda Morales of Portland State.
Over the last four games, Day-Wilson has averaged 17.5 points, 4.0 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals. She has scored double-digits in each of the last four contests.
At Dayton, she scored eight straight first quarter points, before going on to finish the game with 13 points on 5-of-7 field goals. She added 11 points against Alabama and then scored 14 points versus App State.
Day-Wilson came up big once again against No. 9 Iowa with a game-high 19 points, four rebounds, four assists and a career-high four steals in 27 minutes.
Taylor Bringing All-Around Game...
Junior Celeste Taylor has been impressive in a Duke uniform, averaging 15.3 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.3 steals and 3.3 assists on the year.
Taylor recently collected a season-high 24 points to go along with 11 rebounds, six steals and six assists versus Troy. According to Her Hoop Stats, this was the first 24/11/6/6 performance in almost two years - and only the sixth such performance since 2009-10 nationally.
It marked the eighth time over her career she has notched 20+ points and the second time this season. Taylor has collected back-to-back double-doubles as a Blue Devil and six over her career.
Taylor is the only player in the ACC averaging over 15.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.0 steals, 3.0 assists and 1.0 blocks. She is one of only three players nationally to average those numbers as well -- Rhyne Howard (Kentucky) and Janai Crooms (Providence).
In the ACC Stats...
Duke currently leads the ACC in scoring offense (81.29), ranks second in field goal percentage (47.7), third in 3-point field goal percentage (34.6), third in assists (18.0), second in blocks (6.0) and second in 3-point field goals made (8.9).
Celeste Taylor ranks seventh in scoring (15.3), tied for 10th in rebounding (7.6), ninth in field goal percentage (48.1), 12th in assists (3.3), ninth in free throw percentage (69.0) and tied for fourth in steals (2.3).
Elizabeth Balogun ranks fourth in blocks (1.57), Vanessa de Jesus is fourth in assist/turnover ratio (2.5) and tied for sixth in assists (3.9), Lexi Gordon is sixth in 3-point field goals made (2.43). Shayeann Day-Wilson is 16th in scoring (13.1), sixth in assists (3.9)second in 3-point field goal percentage (47.4) and fourth in 3-point field goals made (2.6).
Blue Devils From Downtown...
Duke has drained 62 treys over the first seven games, which is the most in school history. The most through the opening six games of a season previously was 50 in both 2013-14 and 2005-06.
The Blue Devils are averaging 8.9 three-pointers per game, which ranks second in the ACC.
The most 3-pointers hit through eight games in school history was 56 in 2016-17.
Duke has also attempted a school-record 179 three-pointers through seven games.
Sunday, Dec. 5 • 1:00 PM
Philadelphia, Pa. • ESPN+
The Palestra (8,722)
Tickets: www.PennAthletics.com (215-898-6151)
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: ESPN+
TV Talent: Dan Fritz (PXP), Jake Galli (Color), Renee Washington (Sideline)
Game Notes l Watch Live on ESPN+ l Listen Live l Live Stats l Twitter l Duke Media Hub
Setting the Scene...
After registering a top-10 win on Thursday, the Duke women's basketball team (7-0) will travel to Philadelphia, Pa., for another non-conference contest at Penn (4-4) Sunday, Dec. 5 at 1 p.m., at The Palestra.
The game will be carried live on ESPN+ with Dan Fritz (PXP), Jake Galli (Color) and Renee Washington (Sideline) calling the action. It will also be carried on the Blue Devil Sports Network via WDNC AM 620, the Varsity Network app and www.GoDuke.com with Chris Edwards (PXP) on the air at 12:45 p.m.
What is Next?...
Duke will be off for exam break, before returning to action against No. 1 South Carolina on Dec. 15 at 7 p.m., in Cameron Indoor Stadium. The game will be aired live on ACC Network.
A Look at Penn...
Penn enters the contest with a 4-4 overall record following back-to-back losses against La Salle and Bucknell. Kayla Padilla (22.5 points, 19 treys), Jordan Obi (15.3 points, 7.3 rebounds), Mia Lakstigala (14.5 points, 7.5 rebounds) and Mandy McGurk (10.8 points) have paced the Quakers so far on the season.
The Series with Penn...
Duke and Penn will face off for the fifth time in program history, with Duke leading the series, 4-0. The two teams have met three times in the last six years.
In the last contest, Duke won 66-50 on Nov. 29, 2019, in Durham. The Blue Devils are 3-0 in home games and 1-0 in games played at Penn, which took place in 2015.
Duke will play its eighth contest in the city of Philadelphia, while holding a 5-2 ledger overall.
Duke Versus the Ivy League Conference...
Duke owns a 12-0 ledger against opponents in the Ivy League Conference -- Dartmouth (1-0), Harvard (3-0), Pennsylvania (4-0), Princeton (3-0), and Yale (1-0).
Storylines/Other Blue Devil Notes...
• Penn's Kayla Padilla and Duke's Shayeann Day-Wilson will step on the court together Sunday featuring two of the best 3-point shooting outputs on the season. Padilla drained nine 3-pointers against Memphis, while Day-Wilson sank eight versus Troy.
• Entering Thursday's games, unranked teams were 0-47 versus top-10 opponents on the season, before Duke knocked off No. 9 Iowa. The current record is 1-48 with the lone win coming by the Blue Devils. The 15-point win over Iowa was the largest margin of victory over a top-10 team since defeating FSU by 13 the 2017-18 season.
• Duke is the only team in the ACC to have scored 70+ points in every contest it has played this season.
• Freshman Shayeann Day-Wilson has hit 14-of-21 treys the last three games, including 12-of-17 the last two contests. Her 18 three-pointers on the season ranks as the second-most by a freshman nationally (Isabelle Mauricio of Brown and Tess Myers of Duquesne own 22).
• Duke is 31-3 all-time in the game after defeating a top-10 opponent. Two of the three losses have come in either the ACC or NCAA Tournament.
• Duke has allowed 75 points or less in every game under Kara Lawson as head coach. The 11-straight games allowing 75 points or less is the longest streak since the 2019-20 season when the Blue Devils allowed less than 75 points in 17 straight contests.
• The Blue Devils have posted 20+ points in the first quarter in six of the seven contests this season, while averaging 21.0 points in the quarter. Duke has led after the first 10 minutes in each of the seven games, while also holding opponents to only 12.0 points a game in the first quarter.
• Duke has won 10 straight non-conference games, the most since 2012-13 season, when the Blue Devils won 10 in a row. The next longest was 14 in a row in 2010-11.
• Duke scored 33 points in the third quarter against App State, which was the second-most in a quarter by the Blue Devils in school history. The Blue Devils outscored the Mountaineers, 33-13, in the quarter and went on to win the contest.
• Amaya Finklea-Guity came off the bench to score 11 points and pull down five boards in 18 minutes against App State - all season highs. She added seven points and four rebounds in 10 minutes versus Troy.
• The Blue Devils feature eight different players that have drained at least one 3-pointer on the season, while five have hit four or more.
• This is the first time Duke is 7-0 to start a season since 2013-14, when the Blue Devils opened with a 10-0 ledger.
• Since arriving at Duke, Vanessa de Jesus has produced a 2.2 assist/turnover ratio (42/19).
• Duke has scored 233 points off the bench in seven games for an average of 33.3, while its opponents are averaging only 9.6 a contest.
• In the 11 games under Kara Lawson since arriving, Duke has scored 70+ points in 10 of the 11 contests. The Blue Devils have won every game in which they have scored 70 points or more. The only loss was to Louisville, 73-49, last season.
• Duke has scored 70+ points in each of the first seven games in 2021-22, which marks the first time the Blue Devils have scored 70+ points in each of the first seven contests of the season since the 2013-14 campaign, when Duke collected 70+ points in the first 10 contests.
• In 11 games over the last two years under Kara Lawson, the Blue Devils have drained 91 treys for an average of 8.3 a contest.
• 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.
• Elizabeth Balogun steps on the court in 2021-22 with Duke marking the third different ACC squad she has played for. She is 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 entered the season ranking 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.
Impressive Numbers...
Celeste Taylor is one of only five guards nationally to collect 17 points, 13 rebounds, two assists and two blocks in a game this season. She accomplished the mark against No. 9 Iowa.
Shayeann Day-Wilson is one of four freshman nationally to register 19 points, four rebounds, four assists and four steals in a game on the year.
Milestone Watch...
• Graduate Student Jade Williams is one point away from reaching the 700-point ledger, while senior Elizabeth Balogun is 12 points from 900 and graduate student Lexi Gordon is 13 points from 800 for their careers.
• Miela Goodchild needs 12 three-pointers to move into a tie for 10th on Duke's career 3-pointers made list. She owns 130 over four seasons.
Top Freshman...
Duke rookie Shayeann Day-Wilson is the top freshman scorer in the ACC with a 13.1 per game average, while her 3.86 assist average ranks second among league rookies (Olivia Miles of Notre Dame, 7.0).
With her effort this past week, Day-Wilson earned ACC Freshman of the Week on Nov. 29. She averaged 20.0 points, 4.5 assists and 4.0 rebounds as she helped lead the Blue Devils to victories over Appalachian State and Troy this past week. She hit 10-of-14 three-pointers and 15-of-24 field goals between the two contests.
Day-Wilson Providing a Spark...
Rookie Shayeann Day-Wilson has provided a big spark off the bench to open the season and stepped it up a notch against Troy with a career-high 26 points and a school-record tying eight three-pointers. Day-Wilson hit 8-of-10 three-pointers, 9-of-14 field goals, grabbed five boards and dished four assists in a career-high 32 minutes. The eight treys matched a school record held by Miela Goodchild and Rebecca Greenwell. She also equaled the Blue Devil freshman record of eight held by Goodchild.
With her 26 points, five rebounds and four assists, Day-Wilson joins Duke great Alana Beard as the only Blue Devil freshmen to score 26 or more points, have five rebounds and four assists in a game. Beard accomplished the mark on Dec. 30, 2000 against Iowa State with 27 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Since 2009-10, only Day-Wilson, Kelsey Mitchell of Ohio State and Jacki Bigham of Oral Roberts have collected 26 points, five rebounds, four assists and eight made 3-pointers in a single game.
Day-Wilson is one of only three freshmen nationally to drain eight or more treys in a single game -- Ally Stedman of Pepperdine and Esmeralda Morales of Portland State.
Over the last four games, Day-Wilson has averaged 17.5 points, 4.0 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals. She has scored double-digits in each of the last four contests.
At Dayton, she scored eight straight first quarter points, before going on to finish the game with 13 points on 5-of-7 field goals. She added 11 points against Alabama and then scored 14 points versus App State.
Day-Wilson came up big once again against No. 9 Iowa with a game-high 19 points, four rebounds, four assists and a career-high four steals in 27 minutes.
Taylor Bringing All-Around Game...
Junior Celeste Taylor has been impressive in a Duke uniform, averaging 15.3 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.3 steals and 3.3 assists on the year.
Taylor recently collected a season-high 24 points to go along with 11 rebounds, six steals and six assists versus Troy. According to Her Hoop Stats, this was the first 24/11/6/6 performance in almost two years - and only the sixth such performance since 2009-10 nationally.
It marked the eighth time over her career she has notched 20+ points and the second time this season. Taylor has collected back-to-back double-doubles as a Blue Devil and six over her career.
Taylor is the only player in the ACC averaging over 15.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.0 steals, 3.0 assists and 1.0 blocks. She is one of only three players nationally to average those numbers as well -- Rhyne Howard (Kentucky) and Janai Crooms (Providence).
In the ACC Stats...
Duke currently leads the ACC in scoring offense (81.29), ranks second in field goal percentage (47.7), third in 3-point field goal percentage (34.6), third in assists (18.0), second in blocks (6.0) and second in 3-point field goals made (8.9).
Celeste Taylor ranks seventh in scoring (15.3), tied for 10th in rebounding (7.6), ninth in field goal percentage (48.1), 12th in assists (3.3), ninth in free throw percentage (69.0) and tied for fourth in steals (2.3).
Elizabeth Balogun ranks fourth in blocks (1.57), Vanessa de Jesus is fourth in assist/turnover ratio (2.5) and tied for sixth in assists (3.9), Lexi Gordon is sixth in 3-point field goals made (2.43). Shayeann Day-Wilson is 16th in scoring (13.1), sixth in assists (3.9)second in 3-point field goal percentage (47.4) and fourth in 3-point field goals made (2.6).
Blue Devils From Downtown...
Duke has drained 62 treys over the first seven games, which is the most in school history. The most through the opening six games of a season previously was 50 in both 2013-14 and 2005-06.
The Blue Devils are averaging 8.9 three-pointers per game, which ranks second in the ACC.
The most 3-pointers hit through eight games in school history was 56 in 2016-17.
Duke has also attempted a school-record 179 three-pointers through seven games.
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