Duke’s women opened the season with a 76-60 win over Wisconsin-Green Bay, but the final margin didn’t tell the whole story.
Green Bay showed exactly why Kara Lawson wanted this matchup. The Phoenix came in as one of the most reliable mid-major programs around, a team that has been a Horizon League force for years and has never finished with a losing record since its start in 1981-82.
They’ve made 20 NCAA Tournaments, including the last three, and they’ve had seasons like 2010-11, when they went 34-2. Lawson said that kind of opponent is useful because it forces a team to face real problems early.
“Green Bay’s as good as advertised. We knew that.
They’re a program that every year is in the tournament and every year plays power-four teams tough. So, it was a great team for us to start with.
They keep you honest, they execute well. I thought they were really scrappy, particularly in the first half.
I won’t say a good start for us but a necessary start for us to see where we need to improve.”
Duke’s biggest issue was obvious from the start: the Blue Devils were without Toby Fournier, who sat out with what Lawson called a “lower-leg injury.” Without the All-American forward, Duke had to sort through a messy first half, especially from a young backcourt that struggled to slow the game down.
Freshman point guard Autumn Fleary, a 5-6 burst of energy, had a rough opening stretch. She played just five first-half minutes and committed four turnovers. Emilee Skinner, Bella Flemings and Aaliyah Crump each had two turnovers before halftime as Duke piled up 12 giveaways in the opening 20 minutes, 10 of them from that group of underclassmen.
Green Bay made the Blue Devils pay. The Phoenix led 18-16 after one quarter and were up 25-19 early in the second. Duke was losing shooters on switches, getting caught in transition and looking every bit like a team trying to find its footing in a season opener.
The Blue Devils steadied themselves before halftime. Skinner hit a jumper, Crump added one of her own, Riley Nelson knocked down two free throws and then a 3-pointer, and Duke moved in front 28-25. By the break, the Blue Devils held a 33-31 lead, with Nelson already at 11 points.
The game started to tilt after that. Duke put together a 12-5 run to open some breathing room, then carried a 60-49 lead into the fourth quarter. The turnovers also cleaned up; Duke had only five in the second half.
Fleary was a different player after halftime. She logged 14 second-half minutes without a turnover, added two made 3-pointers and finished with three assists. Lawson was blunt about the freshman’s first half, but just as direct about the response.
“I told Fleary after the game ‘I don’t think I’ve seen you play worse’ and I’ve seen her play a lot in high school,” Lawson said. “I don’t think she could play worse. She just didn’t look like herself, how we’ve seen her practice.
“In the second half, seeing her pace, the shot-making ability, defensively she was able to battle.”
Lawson also praised how Fleary reset after the break.
“What I love about her game tonight--because this is really hard to do, no matter if you’re a freshman, a senior, a professional player--you play so poorly in one half and it’s so hard to put that behind you and then have a better half in the second half. It’s hard not to just get inside yourself and say ‘you know what, it’s not my night tonight.
I’m playing so bad’ and just kind of let it pile on. So, I’m proud of her tonight.”
Skinner finished with eight points, six rebounds, five assists and four turnovers. Nelson and Arianna Roberson led Duke with 15 points apiece. Roberson hit a pair of corner 3-pointers, one in each half, and added five rebounds and four blocks.
“I’m always trying to improve on every aspect of my game,” Roberson said. “When I hit those baseline 3s, I was definitely excited. Definitely worked on that a lot.”
Lawson said she wants Roberson to keep looking for her shot and stretching the floor.
Crump was the other standout. The Texas transfer filled up the box score with 11 points, five rebounds, a game-high six assists, a steal and a block, while also playing solid defense and committing just two turnovers. Lawson singled her out afterward.
“Crump is going to figure prominently for us. She’s a true two-way player. There’s a reason I played her 34 minutes tonight, because she’s hard to take off the floor.”
Duke also tightened up defensively once it settled in, using its size to make life difficult for Green Bay. The Phoenix shot just 6-for-27 in the second half, though Duke did send them to the line too often in the third quarter. Lawson said the defensive edge was much sharper after halftime.
“I thought the second half, we were more disruptive,” Lawson said. “Our intensity on that end got a lot better. We started to play Duke defense in that second half.”
Duke now heads to San Antonio for a Sunday meeting with North Texas. The Mean Green have won 67 games over the last three seasons, though they haven’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 1986. It gives Duke another early chance to smooth out the rough edges before the schedule gets much tougher.
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