Kiki Jefferson scores 15, No. 17 Louisville beats Duke 61-44
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Kiki Jefferson made 8 of 8 from the free-throw line and scored 15 points, Olivia Cochran added 13 points and three steals and No. 17 Louisville beat Duke 61-44 Thursday night to give the Cardinals 1,000 wins in program history.
Louisville (13-2, 2-0 ACC) is the 27th program to reach the 1,000-win milestone. Duke has 995 wins all time.
The Blue Devils, coming off an 80-75 win over Boston College in which they shot better than 60% from the field (63.8%) for the first time since 2016, were 19-of-57 (33%) shooting against Louisville. Duke made just 2 of 14 shots — 0 of 5 from behind the arc — and tied the program record for fewest points in a quarter (dating to the 2015-16 season, when the NCAA moved from two halves to four quarters) with four in the second and the Cardinals took a 35-19 halftime lead. The Blue Devils were outscored 29-4 in the third quarter of a 63-42 loss to Northwestern on Nov. 17, 2019.
Jadyn Donovan made a layup to cap a 7-0 spurt and Duke had its first lead. Cochran answered with a jumper 36 seconds later, Sydney Taylor followed with a layup to make it 11-9 with 5:22 left in the first quarter, and the Cardinals led the rest of the way.
Reigan Richardson’s layup about four minutes later pulled the Blue Devils within two, but they committed nine turnovers and went 0 for 7 from the field. Louisville scored 16 consecutive points to make it 33-15 before Taina Mair ended Duke’s scoring drought just shy of 10 minutes later.
Oluchi Okananwa led Duke (9-5, 1-2) with 14 points, Mair added eight and Kennedy Brown grabbed 10 rebounds to go with four points and three blocks. The Blue Devils lost for the first time since Dec. 7, an 80-64 defeat at Clemson in their conference opener.
Duke’s 44 points were a season low and tied for the 10th-fewest in a single game in program history.
Louisville is 8-4 overall in its series with the Blue Devils, 5-0 against at home. Duke beat the Cardinals in their last meeting on Jan. 1, 2023, and has lost five of its last six in the series.
Duke plays at Virginia on Sunday. Louisville has a week off before a game at Pittsburgh on Jan. 11.
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