Richardson, Brown Pace Blue Devils to 73-54 Win on Senior Night

Thursday, February 29

Durham, N.C.

7 p.m.

Duke University

19-9,11-6ACC

Virginia

14-14,6-11ACC

Virginia

Duke

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Richardson, Brown Pace Blue Devils to 73-54 Win on Senior Night

2/29/2024 9:08:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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DURHAM – Junior Reigan Richardson poured in 24 points, four boards and two assists while senior Kennedy Brown posted a near double-double of 13 points and eight rebounds along with three dimes to help lead the Blue Devils to a 73-54 senior night victory over Virginia.

Ashlon Jackson also finished in double figures for the Blue Devils (19-9, 11-6 ACC) with the sophomore adding 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting from deep and five rebounds. Overall, nine Blue Devils got in the scoring column.

For the second consecutive game Duke never trailed as the Blue Devils jumped out to a 13-2 lead and never looked back. Richardson finished her night 10-of-14 from the field for her fifth 20-point performance this season.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

Spearheaded by nine early points from Richardson, Duke jumped out to an early 11-2 advantage, forcing Virginia to call a timeout at the 6:36 mark of the opening period.
The visitors managed to get their offense going following the media break, scoring 10 of the final 16 points in the quarter to pull within five, 17-12, after one.
Three straight buckets in the paint via Brown and Jadyn Donovan (2) allowed Duke to push its lead to 23-14 and force the Cavaliers into using another timeout.
Duke increased its advantage to 14 (35-21) – its largest of the quarter, following four straight free throws by Brown and baskets from Donovan and Richardson.
Virginia battled back to within eight points with just under a minute to go in the second. The Blue Devils responded, with Richardson cashing in another midrange jumper before Jackson splashed a triple from the corner to send Duke into the break up 13, 40-27.
The third quarter was tightly contested with just two points separating the teams across the 10 minutes of play, leaving Duke with a 53-38 advantage head into the final frame. Jackson paced five different Blue Devil scorers with six points in the quarter.
Duke put the finishing touches on the 19-point win as the Blue Devils outscored the Cavaliers 20-16 in the final frame. Richardson netted nine points in the quarter while the Blue Devils also received contributions from Emsbo (4), Oluchi Okananwa (3), Taina Mair (2) and Jackson (2). Mair also dished a game-high six assists.

GAME NOTES

The Blue Devils featured three double-figure scorers in Reigan Richardson (24), Kennedy Brown (13), and Ashlon Jackson (11).
Now winners of three straight, Duke improves to 19-9 overall and 11-6 against ACC foes.
The Blue Devils led from wire to wire with their advantage growing as large as 20 points (71-51) at the 2:16 mark of the fourth quarter.
The Blue Devils finish the home regular season slate with a 14-3 record.
Duke shot 51 percent from the field (27-of-53), 29 percent from three (5-of-17) and 88 percent from the charity stripe (12-of-14).
The Blue Devils assisted on 74 percent of their baskets with 20 assists on 27 made field goals.
On the defensive end, Duke forced Virginia into 17 turnovers and scored 16 points off those miscues.
Duke finished the game with a plus-11 margin on the glass (35-24) and won the specialty stats battle in points off turnovers (16-9) and transition scoring (10-2).
Duke has now held 27 of 28 opponents this season under their respective season scoring average. Virginia's 54 points were 19 below its average of 73.9.

UP NEXT
Duke closes out the 2023-24 regular season against rival North Carolina on Sunday, March 3. Action is set for a 4 p.m., tip live on ESPN.

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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