Elizabeth Williams’ Career Game Leads Duke To Overtime Win at Chapel Hill
By Chris Brown
In the midst of a 5 road game losing streak, the #15 Blue Devils were able to win in overtime against #12 UNC 74-67 at Carmichael Arena in Chapel Hill. This win moves Duke to 14-6 for the season and into a tie for second place record-wise in the conference at 5-2 with Miami and Syracuse, one game behind Notre Dame, Florida State, and Louisville.
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The entire game was very back-and-forth, with the Blue Devils leading by double-digits early in the first half and then the Tar Heels leading by 10 at halftime. Duke was able to storm back in the 2nd half relying on senior center Elizabeth Williams offensively in the post, which paid off for the Blue Devils. Regulation ended tied 62-62, after Williams made the game-saving block on a layup attempt by UNC guard Latifah Coleman to send it to overtime.
This was Duke’s first overtime game of the season, and they dominated in the extra period scoring the first 8 points before the Tar Heels finally scored with 1:51 left in OT. The Blue Devils out-scored the home team 12-5 to pull away for the victory and their first win against a Top 25 ranked team on the road. Duke and UNC will face off against on March 1st in Cameron Indoor Stadium for the last game of the regular season.
Offensively, the Blue Devils were led by Elizabeth Williams was the only player for Duke and one of two in the game to shoot over 50% with a career-high 33 points in this game. Both teams really struggled to shoot the ball this game, with Williams and North Carolina’s Danielle Butts the only two players who shot above 50% for the entire game. Chapel Hill also struggled shooting the ball from deep making only 5-30 3 pointers for 16.7%. Both starting guards for Duke also finished with double-doubles, Rebecca Greenwell adding 14 points and 14 rebounds and Ka’lia Johnson finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Duke as a team dominated the rebounds with 61 total rebounds to UNC’s 47. North Carolina was led by guard Alisha Gray who finished with 20 points.
With her performance tonight after being named a finalist for the John Wooden Player of the Year Award, Williams moved up to 5th on Duke’s all-time scoring list and 3rd in career rebounds. Also, Oderah Chidom returned to the lineup in this game after sitting out the last 2 games with a shoulder injury scoring 4 points and adding 5 rebounds off the bench. Next, the Blue Devils will return home to face Pittsburgh on Thursday evening.
Game MVP: Elizabeth Williams finished the game with 33 points, 10 rebounds, 4 blocks, 3 assists, and 2 steals. The 33 points surpasses Williams previous career-high of 28 points, it’s the highest point-total scored since head coach Joanne P. McCallie took over at Duke in 2007, and it’s the most points ever scored by a Blue Devil in a game against rival North Carolina.