No. 13 Duke women knock off No. 8 Louisville, 58-55 (Jan 2, 2017)
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) Lexie Brown feels pressure every time she shoots a free throw for No. 13 Duke. That makes it easier to take the really tense ones at the ends of games.
Brown hit four key free throws in the final 17.9 seconds of the Blue Devils' 58-55 victory over No. 8 Louisville on Monday night.
Brown, who finished with 17 points, extended her school-record streak to 45 consecutive made foul shots - a number she's only aware of because school officials have begun to publicize it on Twitter.
''It's a little more pressure, but it kind of made it easier for high-pressure situations because now, every free throw, the pressure's on me because I want to keep that streak going,'' Brown said.
Rebecca Greenwell had 10 points for the Blue Devils (13-1, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference), who shot 44 percent and forced 19 turnovers, turning them into 18 points.
Myisha Hines-Allen had 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Cardinals (13-3, 1-1), who had won seven in a row. Asia Durr finished with 15 points and Mariya Moore added 14 points in a tight game with six ties and 16 lead changes.
The last of those came on Greenwell's running layup through contact with 56.7 seconds left that put Duke up 54-53. Kendall Cooper blocked Briahanna Jackson's 3-pointer with about 30 seconds left, and after Brown hit those four free throws, the Cardinals had one last chance to send it to overtime.
Durr handed off to Sydney Zambrotta - who hadn't taken a shot all night until she uncorked an off-balance 3-pointer with about 2 seconds left that bounced twice off the rim before Cooper grabbed the rebound.
BIG PICTURE
Louisville: The Cardinals fell to 0-3 against Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium, and all three of their losses this season have come to teams ranked 13th or better. Durr, who entered as the ACC's second-leading 3-point shooter at 45.5 percent, was just 2 for 12 from long range, and coach Jeff Walz bemoaned his team's season-high-tying turnover total.
''The ball just didn't go in,'' Walz said. ''We didn't shoot it as well as we usually do, and if you're going to play a team that's going to zone for 40 minutes, you've got to be able to knock down shots.''
Of the turnover count, Walz said: ''You can't turn the ball over 19 times and expect to win.''
Duke: The Blue Devils have beaten three nationally ranked teams in less than a month, and this time they did it with what passes as off nights for their two best players: Brown and Greenwell were a combined 8 for 24 and were 3 of 12 from 3-point range.
''It was just a broken-play game,'' Greenwell said. ''We were just trying to constantly move, catch them off guard, make quick cuts, and most of our scores were on broken-play offense.''
TRICKERY
Louisville caught Duke napping to begin the second half: All five Blue Devil defenders and three Louisville players lined up at the wrong basket. Jackson inbounded to Moore, who cruised in for a layup that put the Cardinals up 27-23.
When asked what happened at the start of the half, Walz deadpanned that ''we scored a layup'' before explaining that, yes, he called that set play after watching Duke take the floor for warmups.
The Blue Devils could laugh about it afterward, with Greenwell saying the moment she realized something was amiss was ''when they made it.''
''They were laughing at us, and I was like, `Why are they laughing?''' Brown said. ''And then, layup.''
UP NEXT
Louisville: Wraps up a two-game road swing Thursday night with a visit to Virginia.
Duke: Plays its first game away from Durham since Dec. 1 on Thursday night when the Blue Devils visit Georgia Tech in their ACC road opener.
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