Coming off of home blowout wins against Cal and Stanford, the Blue Devils continued their win streak on the road against SMU. 

Momentum came in full swing for Duke women’s basketball in typical Blue Devil fashion, ending the first half on an extremely strong note. The 14th-ranked Blue Devils were able to rout the Mustangs by a score of 81-46. Ashlon Jackson kept on hitting her shots, as she led the way with 17 points in the win.  

After finishing the first quarter only up 24-21, Duke’s defense was in full-effect; the Mustangs didn’t score for more than five minutes to start the second quarter. Oluchi Okananwa grabbed a miss and laid it in to extend her team’s lead to 10. Taina Mair hits a wide open three with three minutes left. Duke kept on scoring in crafty ways as Okananwa and Fournier both connected on euro-step layups as the first half came to a close. 

The Blue Devils ended the half on a 12-2 run, bolstered by back-to-back threes by Jackson, who went 5-for-7 behind the arc in the half. Duke entered the locker room up 46-25, as the Mustangs scored four points throughout the whole second quarter. 

Head coach Kara Lawson and the Blue Devils didn’t stop even with a large lead. Mair started the second half with a spin move to a midrange jumper. Duke eventually doubled the Mustangs’ point total, 50-25. Nya Robertson, SMU's leading scorer, is averaging nearly 20 points per game but was held well below that with 10 points on 2-of-8 shooting. 

Whether the offense was flowing with a Jackson three or a Fournier 3-point play on a fast-break opportunity, the Mustangs couldn’t find an answer. The carelessness of SMU flared as its pass was intercepted off the baseline for its 15th turnover through three quarters. It seemed like there was no point of return for the Mustangs as Fournier hit a three with less than a minute remaining in the third quarter, giving the visitors a 35-point lead. 

The game started with a Reigan Richardson offensive rebound back to a Jackson three. This three was the sign of many more. Despite careless mistakes and turnovers from both sides, Jackson and Vanessa de Jesus both hit threes keeping the game close with a score of 11-7. SMU made some standout plays, and initially, it felt like the Mustangs could keep up with the Blue Devil defense. However, it was only a matter of time before things for SMU would start to unravel. 

As soon as Fournier got subbed in halfway through the first quarter, she immediately got an offensive rebound and a layup. Threes kept on going back and forth as Okananwa hit a triple making the score 18-14. The ball then went to the Toronto native with a floater in the paint and subsequently a reverse layup. Still, SMU still did not budge. Robertson hit a deep three from the top of the key to cut lead down to three as the first quarter ended. But the Blue Devils completely ran away with the rest of the game, outscoring their opponents 57-25 in the final three periods. 

Duke will look to continue its four-game win streak Jan. 26 against No. 18 Georgia Tech at McCamish Pavilion.