Duke had to fight to get to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA women’s tournament. But the No. 2 seed in the Birmingham 2 region overcame a poor shooting start with a strong second half and prevailed over No. 10 Oregon, 59-53, on its home court at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Both teams struggled to score early on, but Oregon built a 7-2 lead before Duke tightened its defense and came back to tie the game. The Ducks had two long stretches — lasting five and three minutes, respectively — without scoring, which allowed the Blue Devils to close to within 28-23 at halftime despite scoring only nine points in the first quarter and shooting 36%.
However, Duke came out shooting in the second half with Ashlon Jackson hitting four 3-pointers and scoring 14 points in the third quarter.
Deja Kelly scored a game-high 18 points, shooting 8-of-12 from the floor, to lead Oregon. Phillipina Kyei and Nani Falatea each added eight points, while Kyei also grabbed nine rebounds. The Ducks will face the winner between No. 3 North Carolina and No. 6 West Virginia, who play at UNC’s home floor at Carmichael Arena on Monday night.
Duke played without freshman center and ACC rookie of the year Toby Fournier, who was out due to illness. She led the Blue Devils with 13.4 points and 5.2 rebounds per game this season.
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