BTN.com staff, March 28, 2015
TERPS WIN! Maryland picks up a 65-55 win over Duke and the Terps are #EliteEightBound! SWK leads Maryland with 24 points. #GoTerps
— Maryland Women?s Basketball (@TerpsWBB) March 28, 2015
Shatori Walker-Kimbrough scored 18 of her 24 points in the second half, Laurin Mincy scored all 15 of her points in the first half, and top-seeded Maryland advanced to the Spokane Regional final with a 65-55 victory over No. 4 seed Duke on Saturday.
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Walker-Kimbrough took over the scoring load carried by Mincy in the first half as the Terrapins (33-2) reached the Elite Eight for the sixth time under coach Brenda Frese, taking down their former foe from the ACC in the process. The Terrapins had lost eight of their previous 10 games against Duke. But Maryland is 2-0 against the Blue Devils in the NCAA Tournament.
Elizabeth Williams led Duke (23-11) with 18 points and nine rebounds.
Meeting for the first time since Maryland's departure for the Big Ten, the Terrapins knocked off the Blue Devils for the first time since Feb. 19, 2012. Even the mascots got in on the fun of the former conference foes getting together with Duke's Blue Devil wearing a taped message on his forehead reading "The ACC Don't Miss Ya," and Maryland's Testudo responding with "April 4th 2006," the date of the Terrapins national title victory over Duke.
Maryland was the one left celebrating at the end thanks to one of the best performances of Walker-Kimbrough's career.
In the first half, the Terrapins offense was mostly Mincy finding holes in Duke's zone defense and hitting 3s from the perimeter. Mincy scored 12 of Maryland's first 24 points, all on 3-pointers, but she deferred to Walker-Kimbrough in the final 20 minutes as the sophomore got hot. Walker-Kimbrough made 8 of 11 shots in the second half and just missed topping her previous career high of 25 earlier this season against South Florida. Walker-Kimbrough had scored more than 20 points just three times since the start of Big Ten play in late December.
Brionna Jones added 10 points and 10 rebounds as the Terrapins held a decided 33-24 rebounding advantage.
Ka'lia Johnson scored 15 points for the short-handed Blue Devils, but Azura Stevens and Rebecca Greenwell were both hounded by Maryland's defense. Stevens finished with 11 points on 5 of 15 shooting, while Greenwell could never get clear looks from the perimeter and was held to five points, after averaging 14.3 on the season.
Duke trailed by 10 in the opening moments of the second half before going on a 16-7 scoring spurt, hitting six straight shots. Greenwell curled off a screen to hit her first 3-pointer and Williams rebound basket off her own miss cut Maryland's lead to 42-41 with 12:55 remaining.
That's would be the closest Duke would get. Walker-Kimbrough hit a jumper in transition, Brene Moseley came off the bench to hit a 3 and Walker-Kimbrough knocked down her second 3 of the half to push the Maryland lead back to 50-41 with 10 minutes left.
