Duke built a 15-point halftime lead and coasted from there to a 62-47 win over Virginia on Thursday.
The loss has the Cavaliers (11-15, 6-9 ACC) stuck in 10th place in the conference standings with three games left in the regular season, which would have them playing on the Tuesday in the March 4-8 ACC Tournament in Greensboro, barring a late-season run.
The win keeps Duke (16-10, 10-5 ACC) in a three-way tie for third with Florida State and Virginia Tech on the other side of the ACC.
Down 35-20 at the half and 48-36 after three, UVA twice got the deficit to single digits in the fourth quarter with a layup from freshman guard Carole Miller followed by a pair of Lisa Jablonowski free throws that made it 51-42 with just under seven minutes to play.
After Duke pushed the lead back up to 11, an and-one from Jablonowski made it 53-45, narrowing the gap to its closet point since the first half, with 4:30 remaining.
Duke went 4-of-5 from the field down the stretch to secure the victory.
Jocelyn Willoughby led the ‘Hoos with 15 points and seven rebounds. Jablonowski scored 12 points with six rebounds.
Leaonna Odom paced Duke with 17 points and 12 rebounds.
“A tough one for us,” Virginia coach Tina Thompson said. “We started slow and we just couldn’t dig ourselves out of the hole we created of about 15 points. Duke just did what they do, and they did it well. We just had difficulty kind of stopping them and not allowing them to get into their comfort zone.”
UVA will travel to Blacksburg to face in-state rival Virginia Tech on Sunday. The Hokies (20-6, 10-5 ACC) won the first matchup, 69-61, on Jan. 19 in Charlottesville.
Story by Chris Graham
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