Vanessa De Jesus had another high assist game, steering Duke to a 70-56 win over Dayton, Saturday (Manila time) at the University of Dayton Arena in Ohio.
The Filipino-American sophomore for the Blue Devils had six assists with six rebounds and four points in another all-around outing.
By the half, De Jesus already had five assists to give Duke a 41-32 edge.
Duke had a slow start to the third quarter as Dayton went on a 10-3 run to tie the game, 44-44, but four free throws by Celeste Taylor and another three-pointer by Shayeann Day-Wilson helped the Blue Devils regain the lead and hold a 54-46 advantage heading into the final frame.
In the fourth quarter, the Flyers cut the Duke advantage to six points on three different occasions, but the Blue Devils were able to collect key buckets to stay ahead. The last was Lexi Gordon’s fifth three-pointer of the contest which gave Duke a 61-52 lead.
Duke went on an 8-0 run hitting all five field-goal attempts, while its defense clamped down on the Flyers and forced them to miss six straight attempts. Elizabeth Balogun drained her first 3-pointer of the contest at the 2:42 mark, forcing Dayton to call a timeout with Duke leading 66-52.
The Blue Devils went up to 2-0 and will face UNC Wilmington on Monday.
Gordon had 15 points to lead Duke while Day-Wilson and Taylor chipped in 13 and 11 points, respectively.
Dayton (1-1) was led by Makira Cook with 18 points.
