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ATLANTA— Against Georgia Tech, Duke proved that where there is a will, there is a way to win.

 

Coming into Sunday afternoon’s matchup, the 18th-ranked Yellow Jackets and the 14th-ranked Blue Devils looked to be very evenly matched. They averaged similar points per game and shooting percentages. It was clear that the victory would go to whichever team wanted the win more, and at McCamish Pavilion, that team was Duke as it earned a 55-50 victory over Georgia Tech.

 

“When you’re not playing well offensively, it bleeds into other parts of your game, and they know that can lead to a loss,” head coach Kara Lawson said of her team after the game. “And they never let the offensive end bleed into their defense.”

 

Near the end of the third quarter, a clutch jumper from Zoesha Smith brought the Thrillerdome to its feet as the Yellow Jackets tied the game at 45, leading to an intense fourth-quarter showdown.

 

The Georgia Tech faithful dialed up the energy, only growing louder as Kayla Blackshear snuck past Duke’s defense to make the layup to give her team the lead. On the other end of the court, though, Taina Mair continued to provide the steadying effect the Blue Devils needed to tie the game again.

But even as they prevented the Yellow Jackets from scoring, sloppy ball handling from the Blue Devils led to three straight turnovers, keeping the game painstakingly tied. That is, until Oluchi Okananwa did what she does best — providing a burst of energy for Duke. She made shots on two consecutive possessions to give the Blue Devils the slightest bit of breathing room.

 

“I entered with the same mindset I always do whenever I come into the game,” Okananwa said. “Which is, how can I help my team? And most importantly, can I bring my motor? Because I think that that defines me a lot.”

 

From that point on, Okananwa and Duke took charge of the match, clearly feeling a renewed burst of momentum that finally swung the game in its favor. Georgia Tech only scored six points in the fourth quarter with Duke putting on a defensive clinic in the last minute

s of the game.

 

They stayed in it,” Lawson said. “They didn’t hang their heads, and they just kept fighting.”

 

Kara Dunn proved to be a problem all afternoon for the Blue Devils. The 5-foot-11 guard took charge of her team’s offense in the third quarter. But while Dunn managed to slip past Duke’s defense more often than head coach Kara Lawson would have liked, Mair was doing the same thing for Duke. The junior has had a quiet scoring start to the season — averaging only 6.4 points per game — but against the Yellow Jackets, the Boston native’s veteran leadership helped her team pull out the win.

 

In addition to Dunn, Smith was an offensive thorn in the Blue Devils’ side during the contest. She led her team in points as well as rebounds, using her height to win the rebounding battle.

 

“We struggled on the glass today,” Lawson said. “We were talking about trying to limit them to one shot, and we didn’t do that for the better part of the game.”

Georgia Tech got out to a commanding start in the first quarter, quickly establishing a 4-0 lead. Even after a 3-pointer from Reigan Richardson gave Duke its first points of the afternoon, the Yellow Jackets eventually built the lead up to 9-3.

 

The Blue Devil offense slowly started to come alive. Sophomore Jadyn Donovan started it off. Then, Mair joined in with two clutch 3-pointers as Duke slowly began to claw into Georgia Tech’s lead. By the time the first quarter ended, the Blue Devils had cut the lead to 18-17 and enforced a two-minute scoring drought on their opponents.

 

That drought continued for the next three minutes as the Blue Devils rapidly snatched the lead away from the Yellow Jackets. Duke’s bench, led by freshman Toby Fournier and Okananwa, both helped drive the offensive production for the Blue Devils while its defense played its usual role in stifling Georgia Tech.

 

On nearly every possession in the second quarter, the Yellow Jackets found the shot clock rapidly winding down on them as they were forced to take bad shots or make an ill-advised pass. On consecutive possessions, the Blue Devils’ lockdown defense forced the Yellow Jackets into traveling violations, causing waves of clear frustration for the home team.

 

Georgia Tech also played well defensively and outrebounded Duke, allowing the home squad to keep the game in reach even as Duke walked into the locker room with a slim 31-27 lead. From that point on, the two teams would exchange the lead back and forth all afternoon, tying at multiple points and never giving either team the lengthy lead they would have liked