Duke WBB’s Balogun Signs With LV Aces

DURHAM — Former Duke women’s basketball player Elizabeth Balogun has signed a training camp contract with the Las Vegas Aces, General Manager Natalie Williams announced on Wednesday.

Balogun, a 2023 Cheryl Miller Small Forward of the Year Preseason and Midseason Top-10 watch list candidate, played in all 33 games with 27 starts for the Blue Devils during the 2022-23 season. Shooting at a 51.2-percent clip from the field and 46.4 percent from distance, Balogun finished second on the team in scoring (10.2 ppg) while leading the rebounding efforts with 5.2 boards per game.

Named the Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Week by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) for the week of January 4, the Lagos, Nigeria product scored in double figures 17 times. She also tallied three double-doubles this season in wins over Louisville (20 pts, 10 rebs), at Wake Forest (12 pts, 10 rebs), and versus NC State (16 pts, 12 rebs).

In two seasons with the Blue Devils, Balogun started 51 of the 63 games she played and averaged 9.3 points and 4.8 rebounds. She eclipsed the 1,000-point threshold during the 2021-22 season, achieving the feat during Duke’s 58-49 win at Miami (Jan. 18). Additionally, during her time with the Blue Devils, Balogun represented her home country of Nigeria in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

Balogun is the first women’s basketball player in ACC history to play for three different ACC teams, having also played collegiately at Louisville and Georgia Tech.