Taylor, Balogun Lead No. 11 Duke to Convincing Victory Over NC State

Thursday, February 23

Durham, N.C.

8 p.m.

Duke University

24-4,14-3ACC

NC State

18-10,8-9ACC

NC State

Duke

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Taylor, Balogun Lead No. 11 Duke to Convincing Victory Over NC State

2/24/2023 12:28:00 AM | Women's Basketball

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DURHAM – Senior Celeste Taylor notched her second 20-plus point outing of the season while classmate Elizabeth Balogun tallied her third double-double of the year to lead No. 11 Duke to a convincing, 77-62, victory over NC State Thursday evening at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Taylor scored 10 of her game-high 21 points in the fourth quarter to pace the Blue Devil offense, also filling up the stat sheet with six rebounds, five assists and two steals. Balogun led the charge for Duke in the first half with 10 points and finished the game with 16, pairing that with a season-high 12 rebounds.

Duke (24-4, 14-3 ACC) also got solid contributions from junior Kennedy Brown and sophomores Shayeann Day-Wilson and Reigan Richardson. Richardson tallied nine points, two rebounds and a block, while Brown added eight points and three boards of her own. Day-Wilson rounded out the group with seven points, five assists and three rebounds.

Jada Boyd led NC State (18-10, 8-9) with 19 points.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

The first half was a back-and-forth affair that featured six ties and six lead changes.
Duke held an early 9-6 lead midway through the opening period after getting buckets from Balogun, Day-Wilson, Jordyn Oliver and Taylor.
NC State took a four-point lead following a 7-0 run before Ashlon Jackson halted the visitor's run with a pullup three in transition, cashing it in from the right wing to pull Duke within one.
Taya Corosdale added a pair of free throws, but it was the Wolfpack who held a 15-14 lead at the end of one.
The Blue Devils opened the second quarter with nine of the first 11 points surge ahead 23-17.
During the spurt, Richardson split a trip at the free throw line, Balogun and Day-Wilson nailed back-to-back trifectas then Balogun added another midrange jumper.
NC State issued another response of its own, tallying a 10-3 spurt to take a 28-26 lead with 1:38 to go in the half.
Behind four straight points from Kennedy Brown, a jumper from Balogun and a free throw from Taylor, the Blue Devils closed the second quarter with seven of the last nine points to take a 33-30 lead into the break.
After the sides traded buckets to open the third quarter, the Blue Devils used a 10-0 run to create some more separation and push their lead to 49-36 at the 2:29 mark of the period.
Taylor scored the first three points on a free throw and then a jumper, Corosdale drained a triple from the left benchside corner, Richardson converted from midrange and Mia Heide added a perfect trip at the charity stripe to comprise the Duke scoring during the run.
Taylor hit a three from the right slot, then drove the lane before dropping a pretty pass off to Heide for the score as Duke took a 54-44 lead into the fourth quarter.
Richardson opened the final period with an old fashioned three-point play, then Duke added corresponding layups from Balogun, Jordyn Oliver and a pair from Taylor to open up a 17-point lead at the 5:33 mark.
NC State made one more attempt at a late push, using an 8-0 run to slice the deficit to nine, 65-56, with 3:52 to go.
That was as close as the Wolfpack would get though, as Duke made five of its last six field goals and made several plays down the stretch to put the game out of reach.
Taylor ended the Wolfpack's run with a triple from the left benchside corner to push Duke's lead back to a dozen, then found Brown for the layup inside to make it 70-56.
After a pair of NC State free throws, Balogun hit a short jumper, then Taylor delivered the final dagger to the heart of the Wolfpack – swishing a triple from the far-right corner off Oliver's drive-and-kick to push the Blue Devils' advantage to 15 (75-60) with 1:21 left in regulation.

GAME NOTES

With the win, Duke moves to 24-4 overall, 14-3 in ACC play and 13-0 in Cameron Indoor.
Duke sweeps the season series against NC State for the first time since the 2012-13 campaign.
Duke's 14 wins in ACC play is its most since 2012-13 when the Blue Devils finished conference play 17-1 overall.
The Blue Devils dominated the boards, outrebounding NC State by 19 rebounds (43-24), including a 16-4 advantage on the offensive glass leading to 17 second-chance points.
Duke assisted on nearly 60 percent of its baskets in the game, dishing out 17 dimes on 29 made field goals.
Celeste Taylor scored 20 plus points for the second time this season with a game-high 21, while also adding six rebounds, five assists and two steals to her statline.
Elizabeth Balogun posted her third double-double of the season and sixth of her career, finishing the game with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
For the game, Duke shot 43.9 percent from the floor, 38.1 percent from three and 73.3 percent from the charity stripe, going 11-of-15 at the line.
The Blue Devils forced two shot clock violations in the game, increasing their season total to 36 violations forced.

UP NEXT:
Duke will honor its senior class this weekend as the Blue Devils put a bow on the regular season, playing host to in-state rival North Carolina Sunday, Feb. 26, at 12 p.m., live on RSN.

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