No. 8 Duke Falls at No. 3 South Carolina, 81-70

Thursday, December 5

Columbia, S.C.

9 p.m.

Duke University

8-2,0-0ACC

South Carolina

8-1,0-0SEC

Duke

South Carolina

Photo by: Duke Athletics

No. 8 Duke Falls at No. 3 South Carolina, 81-70

12/5/2024 11:12:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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COLUMBIA, S.C. – Three Blue Devils finished their night as double-figure scorers, but it wasn't enough for No. 8 Duke (8-2) in an 81-70 setback to third-ranked South Carolina (8-1) Thursday evening at Colonial Life Arena.

Taina Mair had a fantastic all-around game with 14 points, four rebounds and four assists. Delaney Thomas contributed 14 points on 7-of-7 shooting while Oluchi Okananwa posted 12 points and seven rebounds.

South Carolina finished its night shooting 57 percent from the floor and outscored the Blue Devils in the paint, 48-34.

HOW IT HAPPENED

South Carolina held a double-digit lead after the opening 10 minutes of action, using a pair of extended scoring runs to build up a 28-12 advantage.
Taina Mair led four Blue Devil scorers with five points in the first quarter.
The Blue Devils got off to a strong start in the second frame and used a 12-4 run to trim their deficit to 12, 36-24.
Delaney Thomas' four points led the way during the spurt while Ashlon Jackson, Taina Mair and Jordan Wood contributing buckets as well. Jackson's and Wood's came from behind the arc.
Toby Fournier, Oluchi Okananwa and Reigan Richardson joined in on the scoring action for Duke, but it was the home team that held a 20-point lead at the break.
South Carolina opened the third quarter with a three-pointer to extend its lead to 23. Thomas answered with a jumper at the other end as the teams traded baskets over the opening five minutes of the period.
Trailing by 23, Duke put together a 7-0 spurt to cut the Gamecocks lead to 16, 66-40. Okananwa started the run while a tip-in from Donovan brought the Blue Devils the closest since it was 43-28 late in the second quarter.
South Carolina outscored Duke 6-2 in the closing minutes of the period to head into the final 10 minutes ahead by 20, 68-48.
Jackson started the final stanza with a strike from distance, bringing the lead back down to 17, 68-51. Duke's hot hand continued with Okananwa draining a three and then Mair hitting from distance to make it a 12-point game, 69-57. Donovan laid the ball in on a fast break, cutting South Carolina's advantage to 10, 69-59, and forcing the Gamecocks to call a timeout.
Donovan knocked down a jumper out of the timeout to bring Duke within single digits, 69-61, for the first time since the 5:28 mark of the first quarter.
South Carolina's Chloe Kitts found the bottom of the net, upping the lead back to double digits as the Gamecocks never looked back en route to the, 81-70, victory.

NOTES:

Duke eclipsed 70 points for the 10th consecutive game, matching its longest streak of 70-point games to open the season dating back to 2013-14.
The Blue Devils totaled more second chance points (17-7) and outrebounded South Carolina for the game, 33-28, including an 18-9 margin on the offensive glass
The 28 rebounds by the Gamecocks were 19 fewer than their respective season rebounding average entering the game (46.8) and marked a season low, five boards fewer than the previous low of 34 against UCLA (11.24).
Duke finished with at least three players in double figures for the 10th time in as many games - Taina Mair (14), Delaney Thomas (14) and Oluchi Okananwa (12).
Sixty percent of Duke's scoring came via the extra pass, with the Blue Devils dropping 18 dimes on 30 buckets.
The Blue Devils tallied double-digit steals for the fifth time on the year, finishing the night with 12 thefts.
Junior Taina Mair turned in a solid all-around performance with 14 points, four rebounds, four assists and a game-high four steals.
Sophomore Delaney Thomas reached double figures for the third time in her last four outings, shooting a perfect 7-of-7 en route to finishing with 14 points.
Thomas had her hand all over the stat sheet, rounding out her night with four boards, three steals and two assists.
Oluchi Okananwa provided a jolt of energy off the bench with the sophomore turning in 12 points and seven rebounds - five coming via the offensive glass.
Sophomore Jadyn Donovan posted a near double-double with eight points while posting team highs in rebounds (8) and assists (5).

UP NEXT:
No. 8 Duke opens ACC play against Virginia Tech Sunday, Dec. 8. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m., on ACC Network.

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