No. 7 seed Duke is still dancing.
The Blue Devils upset No. 2 seed Ohio State in Columbus with a 75-63 final score on Sunday. Duke advances to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2018.
This was only Ohio State’s second loss on their home court this season.
Junior guard Reigan Richardson led Duke with 28 points shooting over 60% from the field. She went 3-for-3 from beyond the arc and registered seven rebounds along with three steals.
Ohio State was up by 16 points in the first half, but the Blue Devils stepped on the gas. Their comeback effort started in the second quarter and they pulled away late in the fourth quarter to make the score look more lopsided than the game really was.
The Buckeyes were struggling to hold back Duke late in the game, and it didn’t help that starting guard Celeste Taylor — coincidentally, a Duke transfer — fouled out four minutes into the fourth quarter.
With 3:37 remaining in the game, the Blue Devils had taken over with a 7-0 run and a 63-57 lead. They never looked back.
Ohio State sophomore Cotie McMahon put up a team-high 27 points, but that effort was not enough to take the Buckeyes to a third consecutive Sweet 16. Kevin McGuff’s squad had been a force to be reckoned with all season as the Buckeyes were returning almost everyone who reached the Elite Eight last year.
It was hard to know what to except from Duke because its 2022-23 campaign was its best in recent history with a 26-7 overall record, but then the Blue Devils lost Taylor, the ACC Defensive Player of the Year, to the Buckeyes.
Duke brought in five freshmen this season, however, it turns out coach Kara Lawson had everything under control in her fourth year at the helm of the program. The Blue Devils’ defense remained strong and they entered the 2024 NCAA Tournament with a 20-11 record after falling just four points short of upsetting NC State in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals.
Duke beat Richmond 72-61 in the first round, and now the Blue Devils are heading to Portland to take on the winner of the UConn vs. Syracuse.