— Queens of the ACC. 

Almost exactly a year ago, the Blue Devils lost to the Wolfpack in the ACC championship. A month ago, they again lost to N.C. State behind 36 points from Aziaha James. This time though, not even James’ heroics could stop Duke from winning its first ACC championship under head coach Kara Lawson.

En route to claiming the ACC crown, the Blue Devils knocked off Notre Dame and Louisville, two teams they lost to in the regular season. But those regular-season losses clearly had no effect on Duke as it proved one thing is for certain: March is different. 

Twenty-two points from both junior Ashlon Jackson and sophomore Oluchi Okananwa paved the way for the Blue Devils as they took down the top-seeded Wolfpack 76-62. 

Even though Duke (26-7) was down in the first half, it was never out of the game. By the time the first half ended, the Blue Devils had cut the lead to 36-29, courtesy of a final-possession 3-pointer from Jordan Wood. 

That shot seemingly gave the Blue Devils the momentum they needed to walk out of the locker room and into the second half with a new mindset. As it almost always does for Duke, that started on defense. An early steal on N.C. State’s first possession led to a layup from Delaney Thomas. Another rebound from Okananwa gave Jackson the chance for a fast-break jumper. 

After Saniya Rivers gave the Wolfpack (26-6) their first points of the half with a clutch 3-pointer, Okananwa responded on the other end with one of her own. After a defensive rebound from Toby Fournier, Reigan Richardson sailed down the court and made the pullup jumper, and suddenly, the game was tied at 42. Another rebound by Fournier gave Taina Mair the ball for the perfectly placed layup as the Blue Devils captured their first lead of the game. 

The Wolfpack made it clear though that if the Blue Devils wanted to take them down, they would have to fight with everything they had. 

Those rebounds — along with Jackson and Okananwa’s heroics — allowed the Blue Devils to control the pace of the game and fend off the Wolfpack for good. 

However, the squad from Raleigh got off to a fiery start to the championship game. Missed looks kept Duke scoreless for the opening minutes of the game. Meanwhile, N.C. State seemed unable to miss. A steal from Rivers led to a 3-pointer from James and before the Blue Devils knew it, they were down 7-0.

Lawson immediately called a timeout to refocus her team from the rocky start. Right out of the timeout, Mair drained a jumper to put Duke on the scoreboard and inject some life into her team. 

Shortly after, Okananwa did what she does best: come off the bench with a burst of energy. The Boston native used her unwavering hustle to crash the boards and secure a rebound before charging down the other side of the court and drawing a foul. After missing the second shot from the charity stripe, Okananwa made yet another rebound and scored a layup.

Every time Duke attempted to bring itself back into the game in the first half, the likes of Rivers or Zoe Brooks, who shot an impressive 5-for-6 from the field in the first half, stormed past its usually stalwart defense. Additionally, turnovers gave the Wolfpack even more opportunities to score and build a 19-10 lead going into the second quarter.

It was halfway through the second quarter when the Blue Devils began to right the ship. As veteran leaders are expected to do, Jackson came through with the offensive fire for Duke. Back-to-back jumpers from the junior guard helped keep Duke within reach of N.C. State, and Jackson and Okananwa provided much of the offensive fire for the Blue Devils, continuing to make key shots and rebounds that prevented the Wolfpack from running away with the game. 

Duke will now await its NCAA Tournament seeding, which will be announced March 16.