Women’s Basketball Hangs Tough in Setback at Duke

Sunday, November 22

Durham, N.C.

2 PM

Army West Point

3-1

Duke

3-1

Army West Point

#14/9 Duke

Women’s Basketball Hangs Tough in Setback at Duke

November 22, 2015 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

DURHAM, N.C. – The Army West Point women's basketball team controlled a lead for nearly the entire first half before Duke came back for an eventual 72-61 victory on Sunday afternoon at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Army takes its first setback of the season to move to 3-1 overall, while Duke, which is ranked 14th nationally in the AP Poll and ninth in the USA Today Coaches Poll, improves to 3-1.

Senior guard Kelsey Minato totaled 23 points and six rebounds, while shooting 4-of-8 from deep and classmate Jean Parker also hit 4-of-8 attempts from three-point range and grabbed six boards to finish with 12 points. Sophomore Lena' Hicks posted careers highs of 11 points and four rebounds during 21 minutes off the bench for the Black Knights.

Azurá Stevens paced all players with a 32-point, 14-rebound double-double and Rebecca Greenwell and Angela Salvadores each tallied 13 points.

"It was a tall task to come in here against this team, but I thought we got good production from a couple of kids who haven't played a lot," said head coach Dave Magarity. "Hicks hasn't played a lot in her career and I'm really pleased with the way she came out. We just didn't have an answer for Stevens. She's a really special player. We did a terrific job at finding openings in their defense early in the game, but the third quarter really hurt us. They're a very good offensive team and I think if we could find one more consistent scorer to go along with Kelsey, we can be better."

Duke scored on each of its first three possessions, but Army kept pace early with three-pointers on consecutive possessions from Minato, Parker and senior Brianna Johnson to take a 9-6 lead 2:20 into the game.

Senior Aimee Oertner had a block on the Blue Devils' next two trips down the floor and scored three straight points of her own, on a lay-up and a free throw, to keep the Black Knights' three-point lead intact, 12-9, with 5:35 to play in the opening period.

Minato netted five more points to extend the visitors' advantage to five, 17-12, by the first media timeout at the 3:15 mark of the first quarter. Senior Brigette Ocran split a pair of foul shots with 2:48 left in the opening stanza to make the score 18-12 before Minato buried a three and made two free throws to give Army a 23-14 lead at the 44-second mark.

Stevens hit a pair of lay-ins for the hosts to end the quarter, including a fast-break lay-up with one second on the clock to bring the Blue Devils back to a 23-18 deficit.

Army came out where it left off to begin the second period, as Hicks and Minato contributed to five straight points, with a lay-up and a three, respectively, to boost the Black Knights' lead to 32-25 3:19 into the frame.

Lynee Belton and Greenwell hit two-point baskets for Duke to trim its deficit to three by the 3:45 mark of the first half before each team made a lay-up in the final 1:28 to send Army into the break with a 34-31 advantage.

Stevens tallied four straight points for the Blue Devils to start the second half and begin an 8-0 run that gave the home team a 39-34 advantage. Duke took back the lead with 8:39 remaining in the third quarter to put it in front for the first time since the 9:09 mark of the opening quarter.

Hicks converted a lay-in at the 4:32 point of the third period to halt Duke's run and bring Army back to within three before the Blue Devils closed the quarter on an 11-3 run to grow its lead to 50-39 at the end of three.

Parker made back-to-back triples 1:21 into the fourth stanza to bring the Black Knights back to 50-45 before Duke went on a 9-4 run over the next 4:38 to move the score to 59-49. Army netted five straight to cut its deficit in half, but the Blue Devils wouldn't let their lead fall any lower for the remainder of the final quarter.

Army returns to the court in a week when it hosts Rider on Nov. 29 at 1 p.m.

GAME NOTES: Sunday marked the first meeting between Army and Duke … the Black Knights had three players finish with double-digit points for the second game in a row … Minato extended her Patriot League-record double-digit scoring streak to 84 games and moved her career point total to 1,913, just 29 shy of passing Katie Macfarlane for first on Army's career scoring list … Hicks notched career standards of 11 points, four boards and 21 minutes … Army wore its new road black jerseys and shorts for the first time this season.