Blue Devils Stifle No. 17 Syracuse in 58-45 Road Win

Thursday, February 22

Syracuse, N.Y.

7 p.m.

Duke University

17-9,9-6ACC

Syracuse

22-5,12-4ACC

Duke

Syracuse

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Blue Devils Stifle No. 17 Syracuse in 58-45 Road Win

2/22/2024 9:21:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Duke women's basketball team held 17th-ranked Syracuse to 25-percent shooting from the field and outrebounded the Orange by 17 to come away with a crucial 58-45 ACC victory Thursday night at the JMA Wireless Dome.

Kennedy Brown led the charge offensively with 12 points, while Reigan Richardson dropped in 11 points. Six Blue Devils finished the night with at least five points as freshman Jadyn Donovan had an outstanding evening with eight points, a career-high 15 rebounds, two assists, a block and one steal. Taina Mair dished out a season-best nine assists to go along with her seven points.

Frustrated by Duke's defense all night, the Orange (22-5, 12-4) finished with a season-low 14 field goals and knocked down just 3-of-16 from distance. Syracuse rarely got second looks in the game as the Blue Devils held a 35-15 advantage on the defensive glass.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

Duke held a 14-11 advantage after the opening 10 minutes of action. Six different Blue Devils scored in the first period, led by Richardson with four points.
Defensively, the Blue Devils held Syracuse to 25-percent shooting (4-of-16) in the quarter and held the Orange without a point for the final 2:03 of the frame.
Duke outscored Syracuse 21-6 in the second quarter and held a 35-17 lead at the break.
A 10-2 start to the second period allowed the Blue Devils to extend their lead to double digits and take a 24-13 margin at the 6:13 mark.
The spurt featured a pair of buckets by Brown before Mair and freshman Oluchi Okananwa cashed in back-to-back triples for the 11-point advantage.
Duke closed the frame strong, using another 9-0 run late in the period to push the lead to 18 (33-15) – the largest of the opening half, with 1:11 to play.
Syracuse sliced the deficit to 11 via a 9-0 burst early in the third before a Mair bucket and a pair of free throws from Brown halted the run and pushed the Blue Devil lead back to 15, 41-26, heading into the media timeout.
Syracuse outscored Duke, 14-11, in the final quarter looking to make a comeback. The deficit proved to be too much to overcome, however, as the Blue Devils locked down the 13-point win.

GAME NOTES

With the win, Duke improves to 17-9 overall and 9-6 in league action.
Duke moves to 6-3 on the year following a loss and is now 3-6 against ranked opponents this season.
The Blue Devils have won four consecutive games against Syracuse. In the all-time series against the Orange, Duke extends its series lead to 9-3 overall and 4-2 when playing in Syracuse.
Duke held Syracuse to its lowest point total (45) and field goal percentage (.250) of the season – the latter also marking the lowest shooting clip by a Duke foe this year.
The Blue Devils snagged 52 rebounds against the Orange – the third most by Duke this year.
In the specialty stats battle, the Blue Devils owned the advantage in points in the paint (36-20), in transition (18-2) and bench scoring (13-4).
25 of Duke's 26 opponents have now been held below their respective season scoring averages on the year. Syracuse's 45 points were 31.4 points below its average of 76.4.

UP NEXT
Duke welcomes No. 6 NC State to Cameron Indoor Stadium on Feb. 25 for a Sunday evening ACC tilt. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m., live on ACC Network.

To stay up to date with Duke women's basketball, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeWBB."

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