Duke 79, North Carolina 51

DURHAM - There were few moments in Monday night’s nationally-televised game that the Duke women’s basketball team didn’t own against rival North Carolina.

Pressing, trapping and scoring, the No. 8 Blue Devils dominated the No. 18 Tar Heels, rolling to a convincing 79-51 victory at Cameron Indoor Stadium before an announced crowd of 6,902.

Duke (19-4, 7-1 ACC) captured its largest margin of victory against UNC since 2003 and handed the Heels (16-6, 4-4) their third consecutive loss after defeats against No. 15 Florida State and Miami last week.

The Devils, with six players scoring in double-figures, outscored their opponents 40-24 in the paint, scored 25 points off 25 turnovers, scored 22 points off second chance opportunities.

But it was on defense where the Devils wore down the Heels, outrebounding them 52-28 and forcing them to shoot 35.2 percent from the field overall - 24 percent in the second half.

Duke held just a one-board rebounding margin at half-time, but outrebounded the Heels 35-12 in the second half. They finished with 15 steals and held UNC leading scorer junior Italee Lucas to six points on 2-for-8 shooting. Junior Cetera DeGraffenreid was 0-for-8.

“This is the kind of game we’d like to have more often than not,” said Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie, whose team was led by seniors Keturah Jackson and Bridgette Michell who scored 12 points each.

These teams met for the 77th time and Duke claimed its second consecutive victory over UNC, which owns a 45-32 advantage in the all-time series.

McCallie said her team should reflect on how they played on Monday as they head into the second half of the conference schedule. She preferred this performance over the Devils’ debacle in Boston.

Last week, the Devils were upset on the road, 61-57, falling to the Eagles in a lackluster performance that stunned their head coach. Perhaps their lack of preparation and focus in that contest shaped their approach for Monday night.

The Devils were certainly ready, opening the game on a 10-0 run and stretching that lead to 72-47 with four minutes remaining. They attacked the rim. They hustled for rebounds. They moved quicker to loose balls.

They established themselves as the aggressor on defense, springing traps on the perimeter, in the post and after made baskets. Hands in faces, the Devils didn’t allow the Heels anything easy. 

Midway through the first half, 6-foot-5 center Allison Vernerey blocked DeGraffenreid’s layup attempt as she drove hard into the lane. Vernerey’s block slammed the 5-6 guard to the ground. 

It was a complete team effort for the Devils. Joy Cheek snagged nine rebounds. Krystal Thomas finished with three blocks. Jackson plucked five steals. 

Duke’s Jasmine Thomas, the team’s leading scorer, finished with 10 points, four assists and three steals in 24 minutes, missing much of the first half with two fouls. Such a complete effort resonated with the Devils afterward.

“Well, it gets me excited about our potential,” Jackson said. “I think it helps all of us to realize that if we come and we commit to playing as a team, then the sky is truly the limit for our team.”

For much of this contest, the Heels’ offense was grounded. Unable to push the tempo against the Devils, as they prefer, they struggled to piece together any offensive symmetry. They rushed. They fumbled. They forced shots.

The Heels showed just how much they miss senior forward Jessica Breland, who has received a redshirt this season as she recovers from Hodgkins’s Lymphoma - a form of cancer. UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell said without Breland they could not back the Devils out of a match-up zone defense.

“We’ll go back and watch the film about 10 times and try to figure things out,” Hatchell said. “ Sometimes instead of trying to figure things out so much you just have to go out there and go to war and stop trying to do so much strategy.”