Lady Blue Devils Announce 2020-21 Basketball Schedule

DURHAM, N.C. – The 2020-21 Duke women’s basketball schedule was officially announced Wednesday (Nov. 11) as the ACC office released the schedules for all 15 member institutions.

New Duke head coach Kara Lawson will open her Blue Devil tenure Wednesday, Nov. 25 as Duke will host Longwood in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Duke begins the women’s basketball schedule with no fans permitted at Cameron Indoor Stadium, continuing the University’s safety measures regarding the pandemic.

The Blue Devils also welcomes non-conference opponents Western Carolina (Nov. 29), East Carolina (Dec. 5), and UNC Wilmington (Dec. 22) to Cameron.

For the 2020-21 season, ACC women’s basketball will play a 20-game schedule, a two-game increase from last year. Duke will open league action Thursday, Dec. 10 as it hosts Louisville.

The conference is divided into three regional divisions, with home and away games played against divisional opponents, five home games against non-divisional opponents, and five away games against non-divisional opponents.

The two additional non-divisional games were scheduled by the conference office, with most teams being assigned one home and one away game, with a few exceptions.

Duke will face Miami (Dec. 13, Feb. 7­), North Carolina (Jan. 17, Feb. 28), N.C. State (Dec. 20, Jan. 28), Virginia (Feb. 4, Feb. 25), and Virginia Tech (Jan. 3, Feb. 18) in home-away contests. The Blue Devils will host Clemson (Jan. 14), Louisville (Dec. 10, Dec. 31), Pitt (Feb. 14) and Syracuse (Jan. 21) in Cameron Indoor Stadium, while traveling to Boston College (Jan. 10), Florida State (Jan. 7), Georgia Tech (Jan. 24), Notre Dame (Jan. 31) and Wake Forest (Feb. 21).

The ACC Tournament is scheduled for March 3-7 at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C.

In women’s basketball, teams can schedule 23 regular-season games and participate in one multiple-team event that includes up to four games or schedule 25 regular-season games if a team does not compete in a multiple-team event.

In her first season as the head coach at Duke, Lawson returns three starters off a squad that produced an 18-12 record a year ago. The Blue Devils lost two WNBA Draft selections in Haley Gorecki and Leaonna Odom while returning only 37.7 percent of their scoring from a year ago. This ranks as the third-fewest points returning in the ACC.

Leading the list of returners for Duke include senior Jade Williams, junior Onome Akinbode-James, Miela Goodchild, and senior Mikayla Boykin. Other returning letter-winners include sophomore Jaida Patrick, sophomore Jada Claude, junior Uchenna Nwoke, and sophomore Jennifer Ezeh. The Blue Devils will welcome graduate transfer Sara Anastasieska and freshman Vanessa de Jesus to the mix as well. Senior Jayda Adams will miss the season due to a knee injury.

All game times and TV designations have not yet been announced, and the schedule is subject to change.