Greenwell leads Duke past Liberty in dominating 79-41 win

Orin Day, Triangle Sports Network
Orin Day, Triangle Sports Network
Orin Day, Triangle Sports Network

DURHAM, N.C. – The 13th-ranked Duke Blue Devils handily defeated the Liberty Flames 79-41 at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Thursday.

Guard Rebecca Greenwell posted a career-high 26-point performance that included dropping four 3-pointers, grabbing eight rebounds, distributing two assists, and claiming four steals.

Playing with its eighth different starting lineup in 11 games, Duke outrebounded Liberty by a 44-34 margin and held the Flames to 26 percent shooting from the field.

The Blue Devils translated dominant defensive play to offense as they gained possession of a season-high 16 steals and scored 28 points off of 24 Liberty turnovers.

“It was just a good game for us to get better,” Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie said.

“I thought we improved throughout the game and were able to play well with different lineups. We got to experiment a little bit, which was good. We played our bigs, we played four guards. We did a lot of different things that helps us get better.”

The win pushed the Blue Devils’ record to 9-2 on the season.

Forward Azurá Stevens finished with 13 points, her 25th consecutive game in posting a double-digit finish, while guard Angela Salvadores added 12 points to follow behind Greenwell’s lead.

“Coming into the game, I wanted to try to be effective in different ways, and I really just tried to focus on defense,” Greenwell said.

“That just helped my overall game, and the offense came with that – defense and rebounding.”