Duke Downs Ducks To Move On To The 2025 Women’s Sweet 16!
As defense continues to define Kara Lawson’s program
As we’ve said a lot this spring, luck plays a tremendous role in tournament basketball and sometimes it’s not good. How you deal with it is also important though and while Duke played Oregon without star freshman Toby Fournier, Ashlon Jackson came through, leading the Blue Devils to a 59-53 win.
Duke started slow, scoring just nine points in the first quarter to Oregon’s 12 and went into halftime down 28-23.
The Blue Devils seized control in the third quarter, outscoring the Ducks 22-12 as Jackson heated up, personally outscoring Oregon 11-0.
Ultimately, what carried Duke to victory is what has characterized this team all season: tough defense. In the third quarter, the Blue Devils held the Ducks to 5-11 and in the fourth, 4-17.
The great thing about this game is that Duke had some bad luck and overcame adversity. There are no guarantees in tournament play, obviously. You could have a player get sick, or hurt, or just see someone else go off like Goose Givens did in 1978. There are a lot of things you can’t control.
You can control how hard you play defense though and if you work hard on that end, you have a chance to do some damage.
With the win, Duke moves to 28-7 and on to the Sweet Sixteen, where the Devils could have a rematch with UNC, if the Tar Heels manage to beat West Virginia Sunday evening.
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