DULUTH, Ga. (AP) — Three months after getting off to its worst start since 1983-84, Duke is the women’s Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament champion.
Even as confetti fell on the 13th-ranked Blue Devils following their 70-65 overtime thriller over No. 12 Louisville on Sunday, coach Kara Lawson remembered the down times.
“It’s very special for this group to kind of complete the journey in the ACC, because everyone knows about our start,” Lawson said. “Every time I hear ‘3-6’ for the rest of my life, I’m probably going to think about this year because I heard it so much. People just come up to you and go, ‘3-6.’”
Duke fell to Baylor in its season opener, beat Holy Cross and Norfolk State, and then dropped five of its next six, losing to West Virginia, South Florida, South Carolina, UCLA and LSU.
The Blue Devils responded by winning their next 17 games. They climbed back up the rankings, won the ACC regular-season title, then rallied for the tournament crown at Gas South Arena.
“I’m proud of where we started, even though it was hard, and I’m proud of where we got to,” Lawson said. “When you look at this team, we had to figure out who we were. We didn’t know that at the beginning. And we had some personnel losses as well. We lost three players for the entire season. And so this group had to figure out how were we going to play and how could we be successful, and that takes time.”
Riley Nelson, the 6-foot-2 sophomore guard who hit a clutch 3-pointer to help send the game to overtime, said Lawson’s faith in the team never wavered.
“Coach never gave up on us, even when we had our 3-6 start,” she said. “She believes in us, and we bought in to that process.”
Taina Mair, who led the Blue Devils with 19 points and 12 rebounds, also appreciated her coach’s steady hand.
“She’s never changed up,” Mair said. “Even when we had that loss at West Virginia, even in Vegas, and even the loss to LSU at home, she stayed true to the goals and stayed true to the message, and we all bought in to that because we know that coach is going to keep it a hundred with us — 101 at that — on good days and bad days.”
Sunday’s comeback was a microcosm of Duke’s season.
Mair and Nelson hit big shots down the stretch. Delaney Thomas had 19 points, nine rebounds and three steals. Toby Fournier, the Blue Devils’ leading scorer, was held to seven points but had six rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block before fouling out.
“If you want to be a champion, you better be more than a scorer,” Lawson said of Fournier. “Her ability, her versatility defensively to block shots, to guard on the perimeter, we rely on her so much, and she covers up so much for us. Somebody gets beat, she saves us time and time again.”
The Blue Devils now turn their attention to March Madness. They will learn their NCAA Tournament seeding and first-round opponent next Sunday.
“We start at 0-0,” Lawson said. “We have to earn any win that we get in the NCAA Tournament, and that starts with the first round for us.”
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