And now the biggest game of the year looms.
Duke played Columbia at home Sunday night and the Blue Devils came away with a 77-61 win over the Lions.
Columbia played well, but Duke was deeper and had more talent. The Blue Devils took a 25-17 lead in the first quarter and a 43-30 half time lead. Columbia kept it closer in the 3rd but it was too late. This game belonged to Duke.
Duke shot 52.3 percent overall to just 37.5 percent for Columbia. Both teams hit four threes, but Duke only took 12 to get theirs compared to 22 for the Lions.
The Blue Devils also won the boards, 44 to 29 overall and 14-11 on the offensive end.
There was one area where Columbia was competitive - they had 21 turnovers. Unfortunately, Duke had 23, so they won that stat too.
Reigan Richardson had 19 points to lead the Blue Devils. Vanessa de Jesus, Delaney Thomas and Toby Fournier all had 10. Richardson and Thomas had seven rebounds each to lead there.
With the win, Duke moves to 8-1 and can start to prepare for a massive game at powerful South Carolina on Thursday. Dawn Staley has built the dominant program in women’s basketball and winning in Columbia would be no mean feat. It would be a program-defining victory.
