Blue Devils Welcome NCSU Sunday for Annual Play4Kay Contest

Sunday, February 13

Durham, N.C.

2 P.M.

Duke University

NC State

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Blue Devils Welcome NCSU Sunday for Annual Play4Kay Contest

2/12/2022 10:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

DUKE NOTES

#5 NC State (22-3, 13-1) at Duke (15-8, 6-7 ACC)
Sunday, Feb. 13   • 2:00 PM
Durham, N.C.   • RSN-TV
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: RSN-TV
TV Talent: Evan Lepler (PXP), Fallon Stokes (Color)

Game Notes l Watch on ACC Network l Digital Program l How to Watch on RSN-TV l Listen Live l Live Stats l Twitter l Duke Media Hub l Duke Media Guide

Setting the Scene...
   The Duke women's basketball team (15-8, 6-7) will host fifth-ranked N.C. State (22-3, 13-1) on Sunday, Feb. 13 in Cameron Indoor Stadium at 2 p.m., in its annual Play4Kay game. All fans are encouraged to wear pink to the contest.
   The game will be carried live on RSN-TV with Evan Lepler (PXP) and Fallon Stokes (Color) calling the action. It will also be aired 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 1:45 p.m.

What is Next?...
   Duke hits the road for the first of two straight contests away from home. The Blue Devils travel to Charlottesville, Va., Feb. 17 for a 7 p.m., contest on ACC Network Extra.

How to Watch on RSN-TV...
   Fans can tune into the following networks to watch Sunday's contest via RSN-TV -- Bally Sports Arizona, Bally Sports Detroit, Bally Sports Florida, Bally Sports Great Lakes, Bally Sports Midwest Plus, Bally Sports North Plus, Bally Sports San Diego, Bally Sports SoCal, Bally Sports South, Bally Sports Southwest Plus, Bally Sports Wisconsin, Marquee Sports Network, Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, New England Sports Network and the YES Network.
A Look at NC State...
   NC State enters the contest with a 22-3 overall and 13-1 league mark. Elissa Cunane (13.2 points, 7.8 rebounds), Diamond Johnson (11.8 points, 42 treys), Jakia Brown-Turner (8.8 points), Raina Perez (8.7 points) and Kayla Jones (9.0 points) have paced the Wolfpack this season. They boast a 7-1 road record on the year.

The Series with NC State...
   Duke and NC State will meet for the 85th time in school history with the Wolfpack leading the series 47-37. NCSU has won seven out of the last nine meetings.      In games played in Durham, N.C., Duke owns a 19-16 mark. The Blue Devils have won 14 out of the last 15 games played in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Duke on Super Bowl Sunday...
   Duke is 6-6 on Super Bowl Sunday. Five of the six times Duke has won on Super Bowl Sunday, the AFC team has gone on to win. In four of the six times Duke has lost on Super Bowl Sunday, the NFC team has gone on to win. The Blue Devils have lost three straight home games on Super Sunday.

Duke at Full Strength...
   For the first time since returning from Christmas break, Duke was at full strength against Wake Forest on Feb. 6. The Blue Devils totaled an 81-76 victory.
   The Blue Devils had gone 11 straight contests with at least one student-athlete or coach in each game due to either injury, suspension or health and safety protocols.
   Duke head coach Kara Lawson missed the UNC, Louisville and Georgia Tech contests due to health and safety protocols. She returned at Pitt to help snap a three-game losing streak.
   With Duke's core team together, the Blue Devils have totaled an 11-2 record this season with the lone losses coming to top-ranked South Carolina and versus Florida State.

Taylor Returns to the Court...
   After missing seven games with an injury, Celeste Taylor returned to the court and sparked the Blue Devils to a win at Pitt, snapping a three-game losing streak. Taylor has helped Duke win two out of the last three games.
   In the seven games Taylor was out, the Blue Devils saw their offense struggle - hitting 41.5 percent from the field, 30.7 percent from downtown while averaging only 61.4 points. The Duke defense allowed 66.6 points in those games as well. In the first 13 games with Taylor, Duke hit 44.6 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from downtown and averaged 74.7 points. The Blue Devil defense was allowing only 59.4 points with Taylor as well.

Milestone Watch...
   •   Shayeann Day-Wilson has moved into sixth on Duke's freshman three-pointers made (39) and fourth on the attempted lists (104). With her three games with 20+ points on the season, she ranks tied for 10th on Duke's freshman charts.
   •   Miela Goodchild needs six 3-pointers to move into a tie for eighth on Duke's all-time treys list with 170, which would tie Haley Gorecki.
   •   Jade Williams owns 108 career blocks and needs 23 rejections to move into a tie for 10th on Duke's all-time charts along with Mistie Bass (131).

Storylines/Other Blue Devil Notes...
   •   Lexi Gordon will play in her 100th career contest on Sunday against NC State.
   •   Celeste Taylor leads the Blue Devils with nine charges taken. She had a season-best three against Florida State on Feb. 10.
   •   Over her playing career at Tennessee, Kara Lawson helped lead the Lady Vols to 47 wins against top-20 teams, 20 top-10 victories and nine top-5 wins. The Blue Devils are now 2-5 against ranked opponents on the season with both wins coming at home in Cameron.
   •   At home in Cameron, Duke owns a 73-26 record against ranked opponents since the 1997-98 campaign. This includes 18 wins against top-10 teams and 13 victories against top-five opponents.
   •   Senior Jade Williams has hit 29-of-47 field goals for a 61.7 percentage since returning from Christmas break.
   •   Miela Goodchild hit only 6-of-21 treys over the first nine games of the season, but has drained 32 the last 13 contests.
   •   Since Elizabeth Balogun scored 22 and 27 points against Virginia Tech and Notre Dame, respectively, she has averaged only 6.4 points, hit 34.9 percent from the field and 20.8 percent from downtown.
   •   The Blue Devils scored 20+ points in three-straight quarters (2nd, 3rd, 4th) against Wake Forest for the first time in ACC play and the first time since the Troy game in November.
   •   Duke snapped an eight-game streak without scoring 70+ points as the Blue Devils scored 81. The 81 points was also a season high against an ACC opponent.
   •   Miela Goodchild is one of only four ACC players that have drained 30 or more 3-pointers in league action this season -- Dara Mabrey (Notre Dame), Jewel Spear (WFU), Georgia Amoore (VT).
   •   Senior Onome Akinbode-James had pulled down five or more rebounds in each of the last 10 games prior to grabbing four rebounds on Feb. 10 against Florida State.
   •   In ACC games only, Miela Goodchild ranks fourth in 3-point field goal percentage (40.5), tied for 20th in rebounding (5.6) and third in 3-point field goals made (2.50). Onome Akinbode-James ranks 16th in rebounding (6.0) and 10th in blocks (1.2). Shayeann Day-Wilson ranks tied for sixth in assists (3.5), 11th in free throw percentage (73.1) and 16th in scoring (12.7).
   •   In both losses to Virginia Tech, the Blue Devils were without key members of the team. In the first game, Duke was without Shayeann Day-Wilson, Imani Lewis and Emma Schmidt. Then, Duke was without Lexi Gordon and Celeste Taylor in the second contest.
   •   Duke features six different Blue Devils that have led the squad in scoring at least one game -- Lexi Gordon (4), Miela Goodchild (4), Celeste Taylor (1), Shayeann Day-Wilson (8), Elizabeth Balogun (5) and Onome Akinbode-James (1).
   •   The Blue Devils currently have four different players who have scored 20+ points in a game this season -- Celeste Taylor, Lexi Gordon (2), Elizabeth Balogun (2) and Shayeann Day-Wilson (3).
   •   In the 26 games under Kara Lawson since arriving, Duke has scored 70+ points in 15 of the 26 contests. The Blue Devils have won every game in which they have scored 70 points. The games at Miami and home versus Virginia marked the first wins without scoring 70+ points.
   •   Elizabeth Balogun stepped 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).
   •   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.

Home in Cameron...
   Duke owns an 8-5 record at home this season, which is tied for the most losses in Cameron Indoor Stadium over the last 28 years. The Blue Devils had an 11-5 record in 2015-16, but Duke not had six losses in a season at home since 1992-93 (7-6).

Against Ranked Opponents...
   So far this season, Duke owns a 2-5 record against ranked opponents with both of those wins coming in Cameron. Freshman Shayeann Day-Wilson has averaged 14.9 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.1 steals in the seven games against ranked foes. She has totaled double-digits in six of the seven games and recently notched 25 points at Louisville.
   Over the last two games against ranked opponents, Day-Wilson has averaged 21.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 0.5 steals. She hit 4-of-7 from downtown.
   Celeste Taylor played in the wins against Iowa and Notre Dame, while averaging 12.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.3 steals, 1.7 assists and 1.0 blocks in her three games against ranked foes.

Rough Starts...
   Over the last 10 games, Duke has struggled out of the gates in the first quarter. The Blue Devils have trailed at the end of the first 10 minutes in seven of the 10 games. Duke has lost six of those games it has trailed at the end of the first (Notre Dame).
   During that stretch, Duke has hit 52-of-151 field goals for a 34.4 percentage. The Blue Devils have also struggled from downtown hitting 11-of-53 for a 20.8 percentage.
   Duke is 12-0 this season when leading after the first quarter.

Last Meeting...
   Playing without then-leading scorer Celeste Taylor, two Blue Devils registered double-figure scoring efforts, but 16th-ranked Duke fell to No. 4 NC State, 84-60, at Reynolds Coliseum.
    Freshman Shayeann Day-Wilson paced the Blue Devils with 14 points and a team-high four assists, while senior Miela Goodchild added a dozen points, three rebounds and two assists. Senior Onome Akinbode-James pulled down nine rebounds to lead the Duke efforts on the glass.
   Duke got off to a slow start in the first quarter. Akinbode-James tallied the first four points for the Blue Devils, but Duke was just 1-for-10 from the floor and had four turnovers through the first seven minutes of the opening stanza. Lexi Gordon drained a triple from the left wing to snap a four minute scoring drought and Elizabeth Balogun followed with a layup off a nice cut on Day-Wilson's assist. Neither team tallied a basket over the final two minutes and the home team held a 19-9 lead at the end of 10 minutes. Duke would go on to trail, 42-22, at the break.
    The Blue Devils emerged from the locker room looking to chip away at the NC State apex and outscored the Wolfpack 13-8 over the first 5:15 of the third. Balogun netted the first five points for the Blue Devils, sinking a triple before converting on a hard drive to the rim. Shortly after, Day-Wilson and Goodchild cashed in from distance and Williams added her second basket of the paint. Vanessa de Jesus added a trey then Gordon and Balogun combined to go 3-of-4 from the charity stripe to help the Blue Devils complete the third outscoring NC State (19-18). However, the home team still maintained a 19-point margin heading into the final period.