The Duke women's basketball program is slowly proving that they belong in March Madness. Coach Kara Lawson and the Blue Devils had their fair share of ups and downs throughout their season. This is why they landed seventh in the ACC and had to adjust a lot of their schemes heading into the first round. Since then, they got the confidence needed to make a run. Reigan Richardson's squad mopped Richmond in the first round and did the same to Big Ten beasts Ohio State in the round of 32.
This Duke squad now awaits their opponents to go dancing in the Sweet Sixteen. It will either be third-seeded UConn with Paige Bueckers slowly catching fire or Syracuse. Nonetheless, Coach Kara Lawson also has a star who is brightly shining in the big dance. Reigan Richardson put up big numbers in their win over Ohio State. The top-ranked Big Ten conference team just could not handle her as it looked like she was possessed by another Blue Devils legend during her time on the court.
Reigan Richardson became the first player from Duke to have netted back-to-back 25-point outings in March Madness. The last person to have done this feat? It was the legendary Alana Beard way back in 2003, per ESPN Women's Hoops.
She knocked down 11 out of 18 of her field goal attempts while going three out of four from the line. Duke's star point guard also racked up seven rebounds when she was not on scoring duties as well. More than this, her impeccable defense mixed with Coach Kara Lawson's schemes on the perimeter did not give Ohio State a chance. The Buckeyes only managed to sink one three-pointer on 11 attempts. Yes, this Blue Devils squad limited their opponents to a horrid 9.1% from deep.
Duke finds a new star
All of this comes in handy heading into the deeper parts of March Madness. Their switches and rotations are more scattered which makes the offensive and defensive schemes less predictable. However, they did encounter some problems early on against Ohio State. Coach Lawson outlined how they were able to bounce back in her post-game presser.
“It rattled us to start. Once we got our bearings, once we got our rhythm, once we had some success finding scoring, I thought we just played with great poise and confidence and got to the spots we needed to get to. I was just hoping that (Ohio State) barrage in the beginning wasn’t going to put us too far down where we wouldn’t be able to come back,” the Duke basketball coach declared.
Even Richardson knew that they were capable of mounting a comeback despite trailing big.
“We’re super proud, just how the team played today. I think we were down by 16, and we didn’t let it faze us. We stayed with each other and we were able to climb back,” she said.
Richardson is just a junior in the Duke basketball system. After just notching a little under 12 points per contest, she has proven that Coach Lawson can trust her as the primary scoring option. Will she lead this team to the natty?
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