Strong Second Half Pushes Duke into NCAA Second Round

Friday, March 22

Columbus, Ohio

2:30 p.m.

Duke University

21-11,11-7ACC

Richmond

29-6,16-2Atlantic 10

Richmond

Duke

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Strong Second Half Pushes Duke into NCAA Second Round

3/22/2024 4:47:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Duke junior Reigan Richardson scored 25 points and pulled in seven rebounds as the No. 7-seeded Blue Devils outscored No. 10-seed Richmond 44-24 in the second half to post a 72-61 victory in the opening round of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament at Value City Arena.

Richardson went 10-of-18 from the field and was perfect from the free-throw line for her sixth 20-point performance of the season. Ashlon Jackson bolstered the offense with 14 points with 12 of those points coming from behind the three-point arc. Senior Kennedy Brown rounded out the trio in double figures with 10 points and seven caroms of her own.

Defensively, Duke scored 17 points off 16 Richmond turnovers and outrebounded the Spiders on the offensive end 19-4.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

The opening 10 minutes of action was a high-scoring affair as the teams combined for 49 points. Richmond, shooting 71 percent in the first quarter, held a narrow lead, 26-23, after one period.
Richardson poured in 13 or Duke's 23 points during the stanza, tying her for fourth all-time for most points in the first quarter.
Duke led by as many as six in the first period, but a 12-2 late in the frame propelled the visitors ahead, 19-15, with 2:49 to play.
Scores by Camilla Emsbo and Richardson leveled the score at 19-19, but Richmond closed with seven of the final 11 points to take a three-point lead into the second.
Scoring slowed in the second quarter with the Spiders outscoring Duke 11-5 to take a 37-28 lead into the locker room.
A quick 6-0 run to start the third sliced Duke's deficit to three, 37-34, and forced Richmond to call a timeout. Overall, the Blue Devils turned the tables on the Spiders in the third stanza, outscoring Richmond, 23-10. Duke assisted on seven of their nine field goals in the period.
Duke, led by Jackson's six points and Richardson's five, featured six different scorers during the frame to take a 51-47 advantage into the fourth.
The Blue Devils never let up in the final period, extending their lead to 11 midway through the quarter. Duke pushed the advantage to 14 points with under two minutes to play, cruising to the 11-point victory.
Richardson had seven points in the final quarter as Duke shot 54 percent from the field and 75 percent from distance.

GAME NOTES

Duke improves to 21-11 overall and picks up its fourth consecutive victory over Richmond. In the all-time series against the Spiders, Duke improves to 9-1.
The Blue Devils have now won at least one game in their 26 NCAA Tournament appearances and see their NCAA Tournament record move to 60-25 (.706).
Three players finished the game in double figures – Reigan Richardson (25), Ashlon Jackson (14) and Kennedy Brown (10) – while four Blue Devils finished with seven or more rebounds – Jadyn Donovan (8), Oluchi Okananwa (8), Brown (7) and Richardson (7).
Duke shot 43 percent from the field (28-of-65), 35 percent from beyond the arc (7-of-20) and went a perfect 9-of-9 at the charity stripe.
The Blue Devils owned the glass as they outrebounded Richmond 40-22 for the game, including a lopsided 26-7 edge in the second half. Duke snagged 19 total offensive rebounds, turning them into 22 second chance points.
The Blue Devils rebounded from a five-point second period and nine-point halftime lead by outscoring Richmond 44-24 over the final 20 minutes of play.
Duke swept the specialty stats battle with the squad outscoring the Spiders in the paint (28-26), second chance points (22-3), points off turnovers (17-8), bench production (15-0) and in transition (4-0).
Of the Blue Devils' 28 field goals, 18 came via dimes for a 64.3-percent assist rate.
Duke has now held 31 of 32 opponents this season below their respective season scoring averages. Richmond's 61 points were 12.4 below its average of 73.4.
The Spiders finished the game with just four offensive rebounds, which is tied for the seventh-fewest offensive rebounds by a Duke foe all-time.
Duke's 64.7-percent shooting clip in the first quarter is tied for 10th all-time on the Duke charts for first period shooting.

UP NEXT
The Blue Devils take on No. 2-seed Ohio State in the second round on Sunday, March 24.

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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