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Ashlon Jackson figured she couldn’t fare much worse than she had the first half Sunday, all three of her shots missing the mark in Duke women’s basketball’s NCAA Tournament second round matchup with Oregon on Sunday.
Though down on herself, Jackson — with the encouragement of teammates — opted to continue firing away. And the Blue Devils are mighty happy she did.
Jackson finished with a team-high 20 points, hitting five 3-pointers in the second half to lead No. 2 Duke to a 59-53 victory over 10-seed Oregon. With the victory, it advanced to the Sweet 16 in Birmingham.
NEXT STOP... BIRMINGHAM: Duke women's basketball holds on to beat Oregon, advance to Sweet 16 in March Madness
PLAYING SHORT-HANDED: Duke women's basketball player Toby Fournier out vs Oregon in March Madness
“(My teammates) just told me, if you're open, shoot the ball. We need you to shoot the ball,” Jackson said. “But having that confidence from my coaches and from my teammates, that's really what got me going there.”
The Blue Devils played Sunday’s game without leading scorer and ACC Rookie of the Year Toby Fournier, who was out with an illness. As a result, everyone in the Duke locker room understood they had to step their game up.
“I would say playing without Toby was rough, but we knew that we had to be prepared,” Jackson said. “Everyone had to be prepared because if your number was called, we've got to go win a game. But I would say, yeah, that was pretty tough. But we stayed ready, we stayed the course, and we got it done.”
Down 28-23 at halftime, Jackson was among those to heed the call. On her first touch of the second half, she knocked down a 3-pointer from the corner, instantly reacting with a scowl and a loud clap of her hands.
According to coach Kara Lawson, it was exactly what was needed to inject a little life into her team.
“Obviously, we got down early and didn't play our best in the first half, and offensively struggled,” Lawson said. “I thought the second half to start in that third quarter, (Jackson) just really injected us with a ton of energy and confidence and swagger by making plays, and I thought that kind of got us going a little bit.”
While her scoring prowess will make headlines, Thomas as well as her Duke teammates take most pride in the defensive effort shown down the stretch after Oregon had cut the Blue Devils’ 10-point lead to one. The Ducks scored three points over the game’s final 4:35.
“(It was about) just taking the challenge,” Jackson said. “That’s a great offense that (Oregon has), but (we) just wanted to buckle down, and we knew that’s what had to be done in order for us to win.”
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Here's how Duke women's basketball's Ashlon Jackson lifted her team into Sweet 16
Continue reading...
Though down on herself, Jackson — with the encouragement of teammates — opted to continue firing away. And the Blue Devils are mighty happy she did.
Jackson finished with a team-high 20 points, hitting five 3-pointers in the second half to lead No. 2 Duke to a 59-53 victory over 10-seed Oregon. With the victory, it advanced to the Sweet 16 in Birmingham.
NEXT STOP... BIRMINGHAM: Duke women's basketball holds on to beat Oregon, advance to Sweet 16 in March Madness
PLAYING SHORT-HANDED: Duke women's basketball player Toby Fournier out vs Oregon in March Madness
“(My teammates) just told me, if you're open, shoot the ball. We need you to shoot the ball,” Jackson said. “But having that confidence from my coaches and from my teammates, that's really what got me going there.”
The Blue Devils played Sunday’s game without leading scorer and ACC Rookie of the Year Toby Fournier, who was out with an illness. As a result, everyone in the Duke locker room understood they had to step their game up.
“I would say playing without Toby was rough, but we knew that we had to be prepared,” Jackson said. “Everyone had to be prepared because if your number was called, we've got to go win a game. But I would say, yeah, that was pretty tough. But we stayed ready, we stayed the course, and we got it done.”
Down 28-23 at halftime, Jackson was among those to heed the call. On her first touch of the second half, she knocked down a 3-pointer from the corner, instantly reacting with a scowl and a loud clap of her hands.
According to coach Kara Lawson, it was exactly what was needed to inject a little life into her team.
“Obviously, we got down early and didn't play our best in the first half, and offensively struggled,” Lawson said. “I thought the second half to start in that third quarter, (Jackson) just really injected us with a ton of energy and confidence and swagger by making plays, and I thought that kind of got us going a little bit.”
While her scoring prowess will make headlines, Thomas as well as her Duke teammates take most pride in the defensive effort shown down the stretch after Oregon had cut the Blue Devils’ 10-point lead to one. The Ducks scored three points over the game’s final 4:35.
“(It was about) just taking the challenge,” Jackson said. “That’s a great offense that (Oregon has), but (we) just wanted to buckle down, and we knew that’s what had to be done in order for us to win.”
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Here's how Duke women's basketball's Ashlon Jackson lifted her team into Sweet 16
Continue reading...
