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Associated Press

Jasmine Thomas went behind her back during

a steal and layup, then lofted a perfect alley-oop pass to a teammate. Everything was coming easy for her and for Duke - just as it seemingly always does during NCAA Tournament games at home. Thomas scored 11 of her 13 points during the

decisive first half of the Blue Devils’ 72-37 rout of Hampton on Saturday in the first round of the Mem- phis Regional. Keturah Jackson’s 13 points were a career

high and Karima Christmas also scored 13 for No. 2 seed Duke (28-5), which dominated nearly every stat category, outscored Hampton 35-6 during the final 15:45 of the first half and cruised into a second-round matchup with No. 7 seed LSU on Monday night. “Everyone was engaged,” Jackson said. “Every- one contributed. And we were all in tune.” Choicetta McMillian had nine points to lead

the 15th-seeded Pirates (20-12). The outmanned Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champions had a season-low point total, were held to fewer than 40 points for the first time since November 2005 and had their six-game winning streak snapped with their most lopsided loss of the year. The Blue Devils led 40-14 at halftime and

were never threatened after that in extending their dominance at Cameron Indoor Stadium, where their only loss since 2008 came earlier this season to top-

Women’s Basketball News

Duke Dominates Hampton in First Round

ranked Connecticut. They’ve won 13 straight NCAA Tournament games here, and the average margin of victory in the first 12 was 27. Duke shot nearly 46 percent, held a 47-31

rebounding advantage and forced 16 turnovers in winning its fourth straight and 10th in 11 games. “They were very aggressive. I thought they

were going to be aggressive, but they were really aggressive,” Hampton forward Quanneisha Perry said. “Once we broke it, I guess we tried to relax. But with their press, you can’t really relax. You have to be strong with the ball, take care of the ball and look for the right passes, and we didn’t do that at all.” It took the Blue Devils a few minutes to get rolling,

but not because they were rusty after being off for two weeks following their first Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament title since 2004. “I think we started out going too fast and rush-

ing some things on offense,” Thomas said. “We just settled down and got into the flow of the game.” Once that happened, they started playing like a No. 2 seed - and this one was no contest. Duke took the lead for good on Allison Ver-

nerey’s layup five minutes in, Christmas pushed it into double figures to stay with roughly 9½ minutes left and Thomas stretched it into the 20s for good with her highlight-reel steal and layup just inside the 4-minute mark. That had them well on their way into the second

round yet again; the Blue Devils have won at least one game in each of their 16 appearances in the NCAAs.

Blue Devils Advance to Sweet 16

By Michael Tomko

When it really mattered, with the game in the

balance, the senior trio for the Blue Devils took charge.

With a fiery home crowd chanting them on, the

senior class of Joy Cheek, Keturah Jackson and Bridgette Mitchell willed the Blue Devils into the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament by knocking off seventh-seed LSU, 60-52. It began with Mitchell, who finished with 12 points

for the Blue Devils, second on the team to Jasmine Thomas’s 15 points, knocking down long-range jump- ers with LSU head coach Van Chancellor referring to them as ‘daggers’. “Mitchell was the one that hurt us,” Chancellor

said. Mitchell finished 6-of-11 from the field with six

rebounds and three steals. She scored four points in the final 6:47 of the game and grabbed an offensive rebound. Her two baskets were stop and pop long- range jumpers, with one tying the game at 41 and the other putting Duke up 46-43. “For Bridgette, she is kind of our city slicker, our

tough hard nose,” head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “She has a lot of energy and she has become one of the best off the bench because of her energy because we rotate our starters. You have to love her on the bench because she is so loud and she comes in with her energy and hits those dagger shots and everything else.” Jackson, a fifth-year senior, finished with eight

points on 4-of-5 shooting with two rebounds, one assist and three steals, and has been playing like someone who doesn’t want her senior season to end.

She went 6-of-6 from the field in Duke’s opening round win over Hampton, scoring 13 points. “She is focused, she is relaxed, and she is quite

sure of what she can do out there,” McCallie said. “She has been through a lot in her career injury wise, in particular her shoulder injury and I think she is such a committed person of integrity that she is going to take advantage of every opportunity.” Jackson was able to extend Duke’s lead to three

with three minutes remaining, rebounding Mitchell’s missed three pointer for the easy lay in. “I just wanted to contribute any way I could, and

if it’s hustle plays, then that’s what it was,” Jackson said. “I don’t think I was thinking to make the play - I was just playing in the moment.” Cheek, a Charlotte, N.C., native, saved her best

for the final three minutes. Hampered by foul trouble (she picked up her fourth with 4:10 remaining), Cheek checked back into the game with three minutes left

to score four points, and grab three rebounds to help seal the Duke victory and extend her senior season by at least one more game. “Joy is just a very focused player; she has very

high IQ about basketball,” McCallie said. “I know she was upset about her play early in the game but she didn’t hang her head. She is not one to let things get to her. She let it fuel her to play better.” Cheek finished with eight points, five rebounds, one assist, one block and one steal. The game featured 15 ties and seven lead

changes with LSU holding a seven point lead in the first half, and the Blue Devils’ largest lead being eight at the final buzzer. “You just have to fight,” Cheek said. “We didn’t

want it to be our last game. People stepped up and made big plays, we played really well.” The Blue Devils won the turnover battle forcing

22 and won the rebounding battle, holding a 32-27 edge over the Tigers. It was the 14th straight home NCAA Tournament

win for the Blue Devils as they improved to 30-1 inside Cameron Indoor Stadium over the last two years, a record that the senior class can feel proud to have been a part of. “Cameron Indoor is always amazing,” Mitchell

said. “It is always a great place and to be here for the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament is a blessing and we just embraced it.”

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