NORMAN, OKLA. – Duke head women’s basketball coach Joanne P. McCallie tallied her 500th career win as the second-ranked Blue Devils outdistanced themselves from the 17th-ranked Oklahoma Sooners with a 94-85 win at the Lloyd Noble Center on Sunday.
The performances of guards Tricia Liston (23 points, 5 rebounds) and Alexis Jones (20 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals) helped to put together a 46-27 halftime lead, and established the cushion that Duke needed to secure the win over the Sooners (6-3).
Guard Chelsea Gray (17 points, 5 rebounds, 5assists, 5 steals) and forwards Haley Peters (18 points, 3 rebounds) and Oklahoma native Richa Jackson (6 points) all contributed to the win that had the Blue Devils giving up a season-high 85 points.
Center Elizabeth Williams was limited to her lowest career scoring total (4 points) as foul trouble led to her exit from the game with 6:24 to play in the second half after putting in only 10 total minutes of playing time.
It was the first time this season that Williams had fouled out of a game and only the second time that it’s happened in her career to date.
During a foul-filled contest that had 38 infractions whistled, the Sooners pressed the Blue Devils in the second half, shooting 15-of-17 from the line and tallying 58 points, the highest total given up in a half by a team led by McCallie in her time at Duke.
Even while being outscored by 10 points during the second half, the Blue Devils held off their Big 12 Conference host and earned their first win over Oklahoma in the two teams’ all-time series that was first established during the 2002 Final Four, a semifinal game which the Sooners won 86-71.
In her 22nd year as a head coach and seventh at Duke, McCallie reached the milestone victory as the 29th active Division I coach to do so, and is currently the 18th winningest (73%) active coach in the NCAA.
Moving their record to 10-0 on the season, the Blue Devils return home and will take some time during the exam period to rest, recover and prepare to host the No. 1 Connecticut Huskies on Dec. 17 in a nationally televised game as part of the Jimmy V Women’s Basketball Classic.