Day-Wilson Leads Duke to Win Over Pittsburgh

DURHAM, N.C.- Duke Blue Devils take a 55-43 win over the Pittsburgh Panthers on a Thursday night in the Cameron Indoor Stadium.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The common issue for both teams involved turning the ball over; especially , unforced turnovers. Pittsburgh’s forward, Gabby Hutcherson was initially an inside force but got into serious foul trouble in the second half. Duke’s star guard, Celeste Taylor struggled, initially and was 1 of 5 on the court.

The first half was sloppy for both teams. The Blue Devils (19-3, 9-2 ACC)  had 19 turnovers this game. Pittsburgh’s (7-15, 0-11 ACC) foul trouble and offensive turnovers stopped any traction they could have and left them trailing the entire night. They gave up 12 points to the Blue Devils from the free-throw line tonight. On top of that, Duke nullified the unique combination of the high ball screen and zone defense the Panther’s had. Pitt was shooting 9 for 25 in the second half.

Duke guard Shayeann Wilson-Day came through in the second half. She was one of the two guards that made Coach Kara Lawson’s base defense successful in this game. Duke’s work on defense allowed them to use more game clocks and test the strength of Pitt’s zone defense. Duke went through eight minutes with no turnovers which was key for their win.

Duke was led offensively by  Celeste Taylor and Shayeann Day-Wilson who both had 13 points to finish the game.

Pittsburgh was led by Emy Haford who scored 12 points shooting 5 of 7 from the field.  After hearing from Coach Lawson, she says “We wanted to play our base defense and make it hard for them to penetrate to the paint.” One of her focal points was preventing Pitt from finding holes in the defense.

Duke will look to keep their momentum going as they face Notre Dame Sunday, Feb. 5th at 1 pm in Purcell Pavilion Stadium (South Bend, Ind.) on RSN.