Women’s hoops roll call: Duke rising, UNC reeling, N.C. State responds

Just over a month ago, Duke senior guard Ashlon Jackson gave the following blunt assessment of her team’s 3-6 start: “we’re in the mud right now.”

That mud proved less a sinkhole and more a mask — a bit icky, but clarifying. The Blue Devils are now riding an eight-game win streak and seem poised to break back into the AP top-25 rankings soon.

Kara Lawson’s team is 11-6 overall and 6-0 in ACC play after two back-to-back wins on the West Coast. Sunday afternoon’s 67-60 victory over Stanford saw three players finish in double digits: Delaney Thomas, Toby Fournier and Ashlon Jackson. Thomas and Arianna Roberson both recorded career-best 20 point performances in the Blue Devils’ previous game, a gritty 78-74 comeback win at California on Thursday.

And while much of the hype surrounding the preseason ACC favorites honed in on returning ACC Freshman of the Year Toby Fournier, this recent stretch has shown that anyone can step up for Duke on any given night. While coach Kara Lawson’s still weary of using the term “depth” to describe her roster, she’s honed a balanced scoring attack.

The Blue Devils have had five different leading scorers in each of their last five contests — Fournier, Riley Nelson, Taina Mair, Roberson and Thomas — with each player recording 19 or more points.

“Our team is just growing in their chemistry and we’re growing in our execution ability on both ends of the floor,” Lawson said after Sunday’s win. “That’s been happening through the whole season. Believe it or not, even when we were losing, it was still happening.”

Lawson said that improvement was evident in film and daily practice, even through a historic loss to a barren West Virginia roster, a second straight loss to South Florida and lackluster showings against South Carolina and UCLA in Las Vegas. After the ACC-SEC Challenge on Dec. 4, the Duke coach said she was impressed by her team’s competitive effort despite a 93-77 loss.

“It’s good to see the growth that’s happening,” Lawson said then. “It’s been a challenging schedule… but it’s been great for us to expose where we need to get to. And we’re getting better. We’re a lot better than we were last week.”

Since Lawson took the helm at Duke, she’s taken her ‘Handle Hard Better’ approach to scheduling. Duke’s strength of schedule ranks No. 5 nationally, per WarrenNolan.com. Only two other teams have played eight or more Quad 1 games so far: No. 4 Texas (7-1 Q1) and Southern California (2-6). Duke is 3-5 in its Quad 1 games.

“If you can play with the required level of focus and discipline, you’ll be a consistent winner,” Lawson said Sunday. “And so I think our group has just really bought into that, stayed super connected and we’re able to win some tough games here.”

Not only is Duke taking strides as a unit, but individual Blue Devils have impressed in recent outings.

Roberson’s venture to the West Coast — a trip in which the 6-4 center averaged 13 points, seven rebounds, 2.5 steals and 1.5 assists in 40 total minutes of action — earned her ACC Rookie of the Week honors.

Lawson said Sunday that the coaching staff has seen “rapid growth” from the freshman.

“She’s probably our most versatile scorer as a forward,” Lawson said. “She’s got a great 3-point shot, she’s got the midrange… and then her ability to finish in the paint and also get offensive rebounds. So she continues to be a player that I think we’ll see be on the ascent as we go through the season.”

Meanwhile, question marks remain for junior Jadyn Donovan and star freshman Emilee Skinner, who ESPN ranked as the No. 4 recruit in the 2025 class.

Donovan has not played since Duke’s Dec. 18 win over South Dakota State, which saw her score a career-high 23 points. Skinner, meanwhile, has recorded just 47 minutes in three games for the Blue Devils this season.

USA Today reported Skinner will be redshirting this season. A Duke representative reached by the N&O on Monday afternoon declined to comment.

The Blue Devils will try to keep their hot streak going against Virginia at 8 p.m. on Thursday at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

North Carolina falls, unranked for first time in over 30 weeks

Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo is always going to do Hannah Hidalgo things. Look no further than the All-American’s stat line against then-No. 22 North Carolina on Sunday: 31 points, eight rebounds, seven steals, six assists and a block as part of the Fighting Irish’s 73-50 beating of the Tar Heels.

That kind of outing can be expected with a player of Hidalgo’s caliber. What’s more concerning for UNC coach Courtney Banghart is that the Tar Heels have seemingly run into the same problems in each of their three ACC losses: rebounding, ball control and second chances.

“It wasn’t how we prepared,” Banghart said of the Notre Dame loss during her Monday radio show. “And so we’ve got to figure out how our preparation can turn into production. I know we’ve got a lot of inexperience on the roster, but that can no longer be an excuse.”

After trailing by just six points at halftime, the Tar Heels were outscored 40-23 over the final minutes — including a season-low five points scored in the third quarter.

UNC has averaged just over 77 points per game this season, good for third in the conference, but Banghart said moving deeper into the season results in more scouted actions for opponents.

“You’re going to have to have guys that can be tight and, also, create advantages with their dribble, screen or pace — and we just didn’t do that,” Banghart said. “We just didn’t bring enough of a fighter spirit to that end.”

The latest loss dropped the Tar Heels out of the AP Top 25 poll after being ranked for 30 straight weeks. North Carolina will look to recover with a home game against Miami, slated for 7 p.m. on Thursday night.

N.C. State rebounds from Clemson loss, dominates SMU

The Wolfpack delivered a comprehensive response after a road loss to Clemson, overpowering SMU 91-54 at Reynolds Coliseum on Sunday night.

All 10 of N.C. State’s players scored in the wire-to-wire victory, moving the Wolfpack to 12-5 overall and 5-1 in ACC play. Qadence Samuels, the junior guard from UConn, dropped a season-high 16 points.

“I need to get everybody involved,” Wolfpack coach Wes Moore said after the win, “a lot of people were able to get out there and score some points and get some confidence, hopefully.”

Khamil Pierre and Tilda Trygger both recorded double-doubles for the second straight game, good for their 10th and third of the season, respectively.

Zamareya Jones, who missed N.C. State’s trip to Clemson, returned to the floor and finished with 15 points. Freshman Adelaide Jernigan recorded her best performance of conference play, with nine points off the bench.

N.C. State will hit the road to face Wake Forest on Thursday at 6 p.m.