DURHAM – The No. 3 seed Duke women’s basketball team punched its ticket to the second round of the NCAA Tournament as the Blue Devils came out of the gates red hot and never looked back, cruising to an 89-49 victory over No. 14-seed Iona on Saturday evening at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Duke (26-6) finished the game with four players in double figures, led by seniors Elizabeth Balogun and Celeste Taylor with 13 points apiece. Taylor also tallied five rebounds and a pair of assists while Balogun added four rebounds to her statline.
Junior Kennedy Brown filled up the stat sheet as she chipped in 10 points, a game-high eight rebounds, four assists and two blocks. Redshirt-junior Jordyn Oliver rounded out the quartet of double-digit scorers with 10 points, four rebounds and two assists.
Iona (26-7) was led by Ketsia Athias with 20 points, five assists and four rebounds.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Duke opened the game with an 8-0 run and closed the opening period with a 14-4 spurt to take a 22-10 lead into the quarter break.
- Seven different Duke players scored during the opening 10 minutes of action, led by Vanessa de Jesus and Oliver with six and four points apiece, respectively, off the bench.
- The Blue Devils kept their foot on the gas in the second quarter, outscoring the Gaels 25-6 during the period to take a 47-16 lead into the break.
- Duke shot at a 60.6-percent clip from the floor during the first half while all 10 players that saw game action scored, led by Balogun, Brown and Oliver with eight points apiece.
- Scoring was at a premium…
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