Blue Devils Drop ACC Competition at Virginia Tech

BLACKSBURG, Va. – The 15th-ranked Duke women’s basketball team dropped their ACC opening game Thursday night when the Blue Devils fell 77-55 to Virginia Tech at the Cassell Coliseum.

Duke (9-2, 0-1 ACC) was led by a senior Elizabeth Balogun, who scored a season record of 22 points.

After Vanessa de Jesus opened the game with a layup, Virginia Tech scored the next five points and took the 5-2 lead. Blue Devil junior Celeste Taylor also picked up his second mistake at the time and had to leave the race.

Duke followed, 12-11, 2:54 mark, before the Hokies made the following seven points to take the 19-11 lead; Balogun added two free throws to stop the run. The Blue Devils were six behind at the end of the first quarter and didn’t hit 3 points in the first 10 minutes for the first time in the entire season.

Duke was held without a goal for 7:54 – a stretch that began in the middle of the first quarter and lasted until the 6:52 mark in the second quarter. The Blue Devils were left behind by as many as 20 in the second quarter as they continued their struggle to shoot from the field. Duke failed in his 12 of his first 13 goals in the quarter before finishing second with his last three attempts.

The Blue Devils missed 39-21 at halftime and hit just 28.6 percent off the field, including 0-8 from the three-point country. Balogun accelerated the Blue Devils by nine points and de Jesus added eight points to Duke.

Duke ran 7-0 in the early third quarter after the Hokies made their first verse. The Blue Devils cut Virginia Tech’s lead to 13, 41-28, but the Hokies responded in a 12-0 round, building a 53-28 lead.

When Balogun joined in the layup for the third set at 7:58, the Blue Devils remained undefined until 57 seconds left, with Balogun hitting with his 10th three-pointer of the season.

The Blue Devils ended the race strong and defeated the Hokies 24-18 in the fourth quarter while scoring 9/18.

Taylor scored all seven points in the fourth set, while de Jesus added nine points to the Blue Devils.

Elizabeth Kitley led Virginia Tech (10-3, 2-0 ACC) with 27 points and 13 rebounds.

Game Notes:

• Duke played the game without Shayeann Day-Wilson, Imani Lewis and Emma Schmidt due to the University’s occupational health and safety practices.
• The Blue Devils hit just 4/16 of the field goals in the second quarter and scored eight points, a low for the season.
• Duke won 40-18 in the second and third quarters.
• Blue Devils released a record 77 points and hit the lowest level of the season at 30.4 percent off the field.

Next:

Duke returns home to Cameron Indoor Stadium to host No. 17 Notre Dame on Sunday 2 January at 2pm live on ACC Network Extra.

# Good week