Duke wins eighth consecutive in win over Louisville

DURHAM, NC — Senior forward Elizabeth Balogun recorded a double-double leading Duke en route to a 63-56 victory over Louisville on early Sunday afternoon.

Balogun showed out on New Year’s Day for a season-high in points with 20 and rebounds with 10. Elizabeth Balogun is averaging 13.6 points on 57.1% shooting over her last five games, including 16 points in four of the last five.

Fresh off a thrilling, 72-58, victory at No. 6 NC State last Thursday, the Blue Devils’ 13 wins in 14 games is the team’s best start to the season since the 2016-17 campaign.

Duke got off to a great start in Cameron Indoor, sparking a 29-15 run through the first quarter and a half led mostly in part by Balogun and guard Celeste Taylor. Taylor would end the afternoon with 11 points. The Blue Devils went into halftime with an eight-point lead.

Out of the break, the Cardinals refused to back down to Duke mostly due to the play of First-team All-ACC guard Hailey Van Lith in the second half. Lith scored 15 of her 23 points in the second half, bringing the game within two points at its closest.

Duke responded, however, with an 8-0 run in the final three minutes that shut the door on Louisville’s comeback aspirations. A deep three beating the buzzer by Shayeann Day-Wilson proved to be the dagger. Day-Wilson finished the day with 12 points.

“It was a great crowd. Great energy in Cameron,” Duke head coach Kara Lawson told the media following the game. “That really helped our team in the second half. When we needed to win and needed to make the plays we were able to do that.”

The Blue Devils next face off against conference foe Wake Forest on the road on Thursday at 5 p.m. ET at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum on ACC Network Extra.