Lady Blue Devils Dominate Rutgers 68-32

Piscataway, NJ – A strong opening quarter powered the Duke women’s basketball team past Rutgers, 68-32, Thursday evening in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. With the victory, the Blue Devils improved to 8-1 on the season and 8-2 in the yearly Big Ten/ACC Challenge event.

Redshirt junior Rebecca Greenwell headlined a balanced scoring effort with 11 points and also added five assists while junior guard Lexie Brown, senior forward Oderah Chidom and sophomore guard Kyra Lambert turned in nine points each. Chidom and senior Kendall Cooper paced Duke on the boards with seven rebounds apiece.

Contributions from four different players helped the Blue Devils jump out to a 13-0 start midway through the first period. Greenwell notched eight straight points and Cooper added a second jumper to give the squad a 24-5 advantage heading into the second quarter.

Duke’s defense continued to stifle the Scarlet Knights in the second frame, holding Rutgers below 20 percent shooting from the floor. A solid rebounding effort allowed the Blue Devils to stretch their lead to 26 at halftime (39-13). Greenwell’s 11 points and Cooper’s five rebounds led all players at the intermission.

A 9-0 run at the beginning of the third quarter gave Duke its largest lead of the contest at 37. Lambert tallied seven points in the period as the squad continued to shoot over 55 percent for the contest.

The Blue Devils were held to just 11 points in the final quarter but rounded out the game with a 36-point advantage, as well as a 56 percent shooting clip and 40 rebounds to 24 by the Scarlet Knights.

Aliyah Jeune led Rutgers with eight points and Shrita Parker supplied seven.

Up next, Duke returns to Cameron Indoor Stadium for a five-game home stand, beginning with a Sunday contest against third-ranked South Carolina. That game is set for a 2 p.m. tip on ACC Network Extra.

(Photo by Duncan Williams)