Reigan Richardson’s 25 points and seven rebounds led Duke to a 72-61 win over Richmond in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.
Calling this a tale of two halves seems like low-hanging fruit. But it’s an obvious description of a game in which Richmond led 37-28 at the half only to see Duke outscore the Spiders 44-24 after intermission.
This actually wasn’t a case of one of those slow starts that has plagued Duke this season. Duke led 13-7 early, doing exactly the kinds of things I thought Duke would be doing. Jadyn Donovan and Kennedy Brown scored on the offensive boards, Duke got some easy buckets on run-outs and everything seemed to be under control.
But Richmond does one thing well, really well. They shoot and make 3-pointers at a high rate. It’s not unusual to see them on offense without a single player closer than 15 feet to the basket.
Duke defeated Richmond 83-53 back in November and held them to 7 of 26 from beyond the arc.
Maybe it was nerves, maybe it was overconfidence. But Duke kept losing 3-point shooters and paid the price.
Richmond’s first two field goals were from beyond the arc. Siobhan Ryan hit a triple to put Richmond up 16-15. Addie Budnik hit another, to make it 19-15. Another by Budnik made it 22-19.
That’s right. Five 3-pointers in just the first period.
And all these 3-pointers opened the floor for drive-bys and backdoors and Richmond led 26-23 after the first period.
Then the second quarter started and Duke’s offense went splat. Duke went seven minutes without a field goal and went into the locker room trailing by nine.
Duke hit reset and took control early in the third. A 6-0 run forced Richmond to call timeout less than two minutes into the half. Ashlon Jackson tied it at 37 with a 3-pointer, then a Richardson 3-pointer gave Duke a 42-41 lead that it never gave up.
Duke shut down Richmond’s 3-point game and bludgeoned them on the glass. It was 51-47 Duke after three and Richmond never got closer than that four points in the final period.
After starting 7 of 9 from beyond the arc Richmond ended up 10 for 18. Duke only turned it over 11 times and outrebounded Richmond 40-22. As a consequence Duke had 15 more field-goal attempts and five more foul shots; Duke was a perfect 9 for 9 from the line.
Brown (10 points, seven rebounds), Donovan (eight points, eight rebounds) and Oluchi Okananwa (eight points, eight rebounds), joined Richardson in making it a collective effort on the boards.
Ashlon Jackson added 14 points for Duke.
Grace Townsend (18 points), Budnik (17 points, 5 for 8 on 3s) and Maggie Doogan (15 points, 4 for 7 on 3s) led Richmond.
Richmond didn’t get a single bench point, shot four foul shots and turned it over 16 times.
Duke advances to play host Ohio State Sunday.
Rebounding, limiting turnovers and playing the kind of defense Duke played in the second half should give Duke a realistic shot at pulling off the upset.
Great Job GIRLS .... they survived that downpour of 3's from Richmond, made the adjustments at halftime and came out with fire in their eyes in the final two quarters. Jadyn & "ichi" have got to be two of the most spectacular freshmen in the Womens NCAA, for they never give up. I give Duke a punchers' chance when they meet Ohio State.