Brown, Okananwa Power Duke to 70-58 Victory over Yellow Jackets

Thursday, March 7

Greensboro, N.C.

5 p.m.

Duke University

20-10,11-7ACC

Georgia Tech

17-15,7-11ACC

Georgia Tech

Duke

Kennedy Brown and Camilla Emsbo celebrate

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Brown, Okananwa Power Duke to 70-58 Victory over Yellow Jackets

3/7/2024 7:16:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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GREENSBORO, N.C. – Duke senior Kennedy Brown and freshman Oluchi Okananwa turned in complete games as they combined for 29 points, 12 rebounds and four assists in the Blue Devils' 70-58 victory over Georgia Tech in the second round of the ACC Women's Basketball Tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum.

Brown finished her night with 14 points and eight rebounds while Okananwa had 15 points and four boards. Both dished out a pair of assists as Duke (20-10) shot 50.8 percent from the floor for the game.

The seventh-seeded Blue Devils used yet another stellar defensive effort, holding No. 10 seed Georgia Tech (17-15) to 38-percent shooting from the floor, including just 25 percent from long range. The Yellow Jackets entered the game averaging 68.7 points per game and shooting 42 percent from the field.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

Duke parlayed an 11-0 run at the end of the opening quarter into a 17-8 lead after the opening 15 minutes.
Freshman Jadyn Donovan paced four Blue Devil scorers with six points, four boards and three assists across the opening 10 minutes of action. Okananwa and junior Reigan Richardson added five and four points, respectively.
Both offenses were firing on all cylinders in the second quarter as the teams combined for 39 points on 50 percent (15-for-30) shooting from the field with Duke holding a 38-26 lead at the break.
Georgia Tech opened the period with eight unanswered to pull within a point, 17-16, forcing a Duke timeout. The Blue Devils answered with an 8-0 run via sophomore Ashlon Jackson to push their lead back to eight, 28-20, with 3:44 to play in the first half.
The run by the Blue Devils extended to 18-1, stretching the home team's advantage to 38-21 at the 1:36 mark. Duke forced five turnovers and held Georgia Tech without a field goal over for nearly six minutes during the run.
Brown (8) and graduate student Camilla Emsbo (6) combined for 14 of the Blue Devils' 18 third-quarter points as Duke held a 56-43 lead at the end of three.
Georgia Tech pulled within nine in the fourth quarter, but Duke never let the Yellow Jackets get within striking distance en route to the 12-point win. Okananwa helped seal the victory for the Blue Devils with eight points on 4-of-5 shooting in the final 10 minutes.

GAME NOTES

Senior Kennedy Brown and freshman Oluchi Okananwa turned in complete games as they combined for 29 points, 12 rebounds and four assists in the Blue Devils' 70-58 victory over Georgia Tech in the second round of the ACC Women's Basketball Tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum.
Brown finished her night with 14 points and eight rebounds while Okananwa had 15 points and four boards. Both dished out a pair of assists as well.
With the win, Duke improves to 20-10 overall, marking the second 20-win season in the last three years with Lawson at the helm.
Duke notched its third straight win against the Yellow Jackets and increased its lead in the all-time series against Georgia Tech to 65-11, including a 7-0 mark in neutral site games.
The Blue Devils improve to 51-37 overall in the ACC Tournament and have now won at least one game in 26 of their last 29 tournament appearances.
When playing at the Greensboro Coliseum, Duke is now 42-15 overall and 40-14 in ACC Tournament contests.
Thursday's game signified the first neutral site game of the season for Duke.
Duke shot 51 percent from the field (31-of-61) and knocked down five triples.
The Blue Devils led for 85 percent of the game (34:02) with their lead growing as large as 17 at the 1:36 mark of the second quarter.
Duke assisted on 65 percent of its field goals with 20 helpers on 31 buckets.
On the boards, Duke finished with a plus-15 margin (42-27) including a 13-8 advantage on the offensive glass.
In the specialty stats matchup, the Blue Devils held the advantage in points in the paint (46-26), second chance points (15-8), bench production (24-13) and transition scoring (7-2).
Duke has now held 29 of 30 opponents this season below their respective season scoring average. Georgia Tech's 58 points was 10.7 below its average of 68.7.

UP NEXT
The Blue Devils will take on No. 2 seed NC State in the ACC quarterfinals March 8 at 5 p.m., 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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