DURHAM, N.C. -- In the 14th all-time meeting between the Old Dominion women’s basketball team and Duke, the Lady Monarchs fell, 92-64, on Tuesday evening at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
“We battled hard tonight, especially against a tough team like Duke who is very deep, can shoot and rebound," said head coach Karen Barefoot. "The certain area that I want to improve on is being more disciplined. When we cut it to six, we turned the ball over, Jennie [Simms] got her third foul, forcing us to take her out and then we went through a scoring slump and got behind. For us, it’s about the mental mistakes. Credit them, they played hard and stuck with it and also made some big shots. But again, we have to learn some things and get better from this.”
Jennie Simms poured in a season-high 33 points on 12-of-17 shooting, including 5-of-7 from three, to pace Old Dominion (1-2). Simms also added three rebounds and two assists. Freshman Manaya Jones recorded a career-high 15 points to compliment seven boards and Carolina Bernardeco dished out a team-high three assists.
Duke (5-1) used a 19-4 run to claim a 28-17 advantage at the end of the first quarter after going 5-of-7 from three-point range in the opening frame.
The Lady Monarchs responded, as a Simms three-pointer with 5:25 left in the second quarter cut ODU’s deficit to six at 36-30. Duke then held ODU without a point for the remainder of the opening half, as the Blue Devils outscored the Lady Monarchs, 12-0, in the final 12 minutes to carry a 48-30 lead into halftime.
The Blue Devils, who are receiving votes in both national polls, then outscored ODU, 44-34, in the second half to go on for the 92-64 victory.
Lexie Brown led Duke with 32 points, including 21 in the opening half, while Rebecca Blackwell added 24 points and six rebounds. Overall, the Blue Devils shot 51 percent from the field and 60 percent from three, while ODU shot 47 percent. Duke also held a 34-31 edge on the glass.
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Old Dominion returns home to face North Carolina Central (1-3) on Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Ted Constant Center. For tickets, visit YNotTix.com.