2020–21 Duke Blue Devils women's basketball team

2020–21 Duke Blue Devils women's basketball
2020–21 Duke Blue Devils women's basketball
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Record	3–1 (0–1 ACC)
Head coach	Kara Lawson (1st season);
Assistant coaches	Beth Cunningham; Winston Gandy; Tia Jackson;
Home arena	Cameron Indoor Stadium
	Seasons ← 2019–20 2021–22 ⊟

2020–21 ACC women's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 8 Louisville	14	–	2	.875	26	–	4	.867
No. 3 NC State†	12	–	2	.857	22	–	3	.880
Georgia Tech	12	–	6	.667	17	–	9	.654
Syracuse	9	–	7	.563	15	–	9	.625
Florida State	9	–	7	.563	10	–	9	.526
Notre Dame	8	–	7	.533	10	–	10	.500
Virginia Tech	8	–	8	.500	15	–	10	.600
North Carolina	8	–	9	.471	13	–	11	.542
Miami (FL)	8	–	10	.444	11	–	11	.500
Wake Forest	8	–	10	.444	12	–	13	.480
Clemson	5	–	12	.294	12	–	14	.462
Pittsburgh	3	–	12	.200	5	–	14	.263
Boston College	2	–	11	.154	7	–	12	.368
Duke	0	–	1	.000	3	–	1	.750
Virginia	0	–	2	.000	0	–	5	.000
Duke suspended their season on December 25, 2020 Virginia suspended their season on January 14, 2021

† 2021 ACC tournament winner As of March 30, 2021 Rankings from AP poll

The 2020–21 Duke Blue Devils women's basketball team represented Duke University during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Blue Devils were led by first year head coach Kara Lawson and played their home games at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, North Carolina as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

During the off-season, Duke announced that head coach Joanne McCallie had retired after thirteen years as head coach.^[1] On July 11, 2020, Kara Lawson was announced as the new head coach.^[2]

On December 25, 2020, it was announced that the team would end their season due to COVID-19 concerns.^[3]^[4]

The Blue Devils finished the season 3–1, and 0–1 in ACC play. Due to their season cancellation they did not participate in the ACC tournament, NCAA tournament or WNIT.

Previous season

The 2019-20 Blue Devils finished the season 18–12, 12–6 in ACC play to finish in third place for the regular season. As the third seed in the ACC tournament, they lost to Boston College in the Quarterfinals. The NCAA tournament and WNIT were cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.^[5]

Off-season

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Reason for Departure
Haley Gorecki	2	G	6'0"	Senior	Palatine, IL	Graduated
Leaonna Odom	5	F	6'2"	Senior	Lompoc, CA	Declared for 2020 WNBA draft; drafted 15th overall by New York Liberty
Azana Baines	11	G	6'1"	Freshman	Blackwood, NJ	Transferred to Virginia Tech
Kyra Lambert	15	G	5'9"	Graduate Student	Cibolo, TX	Graduated
Emily Schubert	30	C	6'4"	Senior	Elizabethon, TN	Graduated

Incoming transfers

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Previous School
Sara Anastasieska	11	G	5'11"	Graduate Student	Sydney, Australia	Cal
Jiselle Havas	33	G	5'10"	Junior	Windermere, FL	Lafayette

Recruiting Class

Source:^[6]

College recruiting information
Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Vanessa DeJesus PG	Valencia, CA	Sierra Canyon	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	N/A	May 21, 2019
Vanessa DeJesus PG	Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 97
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources:

Roster

2020–21 Duke Blue Devils women's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G/F	0	Jaida Patrick	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	So	Saddle River Day	West Haverstraw, NY
G	2	Vanessa de Jesus	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	Fr	Sierra Canyon	Valencia, CA
G	3	Miela Goodchild	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	Jr	Moreton Bay College	Queensland, Australia
G/F	4	Jada Claude	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	So	Whitewater	Fayetteville, GA
G	11	Sara Anastasieska	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	GS	Monte Sant Angelo Mercy UTSA Cal	Sydney, Australia
G	12	Mikayla Boykin	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	Sr	Clinton	Clinton, NC
C	13	Uchenna Nwoke	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	Jr	South Grand Prairie High School	Grand Prairie, TX
F	22	Jennifer Ezeh	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	So	New Hope Academy	Nibo, Nigeria
F/C	24	Onome Akinbode-James	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	Jr	Blair Academy	Blairstown, NJ
F/C	25	Jade Williams	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	Sr	Owensboro Catholic	Owensboro, KY
G	32	Jayda Adams	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	Sr	Mater Dei	Irvine, CA
G	33	Jiselle Havas	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	Jr	Lake Highland Prep Lafayette	Windermere, FL

Head coach

Kara Lawson (Tennessee)

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster
Last update: December 1, 2020

Schedule

Source^[7]

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular season
November 25, 2020* Noon, ACCN	Longwood	W 94–64	1–0	Cameron Indoor Stadium (0) Durham, NC
November 29, 2020* Noon, ACCNX	Western Carolina	W 83–56	2–0	Cameron Indoor Stadium (0) Durham, NC
December 5, 2020* Noon, ACCNX	East Carolina	W 72–47	3–0	Cameron Indoor Stadium (0) Durham, NC
December 9, 2020 7:00 p.m., RSN	No. 2 Louisville	L 49–73	3–1 (0–1)	Cameron Indoor Stadium (0) Durham, NC
December 13, 2020 3:00 p.m., RSN	at Miami (FL)	Season Canceled		Watsco Center Coral Gables, FL
December 20, 2020 4:00 p.m., ACCN	at No. 4 NC State	Season Canceled		Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC
December 22, 2020* 4:00 p.m., ACCN	UNC Wilmington	Season Canceled		Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
December 31, 2020 3:00 p.m., ACCN	No. 2 Louisville	Season Canceled		Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
January 3, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCNX	Virginia Tech	Season Canceled		Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
January 7, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCNX	at Florida State	Season Canceled		Donald L. Tucker Center Tallahassee, FL
January 10, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCNX	at Boston College	Season Canceled		Conte Forum Chestnut Hill, MA
January 14, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCNX	Clemson	Season Canceled		Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
January 17, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCN	at North Carolina Rivalry	Season Canceled		Carmichael Arena Chapel Hill, NC
January 21, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCNX	Syracuse	Season Canceled		Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
January 24, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCNX	at Georgia Tech	Season Canceled		McCamish Pavilion Atlanta, GA
January 28, 2021 8:00 p.m., ACCN	NC State	Season Canceled		Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
January 31, 2021 4:00 p.m., ACCN	at Notre Dame	Season Canceled		Purcell Pavilion Notre Dame, IN
February 4, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCNX	at Virginia	Season Canceled		John Paul Jones Arena Charlottesville, VA
February 7, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCNX	Miami (FL)	Season Canceled		Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
February 14, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCNX	Pittsburgh	Season Canceled		Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
February 18, 2021 6:00 p.m., ACCNX	at Virginia Tech	Season Canceled		Cassell Coliseum Blacksburg, VA
February 21, 2021 1:00 p.m.	at Wake Forest	Season Canceled		LJVM Coliseum Winston-Salem, NC
February 25, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCNX	Virginia	Season Canceled		Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
February 28, 2021 2:00 p.m., RSN	North Carolina Rivalry	Season Canceled		Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll,. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time.

Rankings

2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball rankings

Regular Season Polls
Poll	Pre- Season	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7	Week 8	Week 9	Week 10	Week 11	Week 12	Week 13	Week 14	Week 15	Week 16	Final
AP	RV	RV
Coaches

**Legend**
		Increase in ranking
		Decrease in ranking
		No Change
(RV)		Received Votes
(NR)		Not Ranked

Coaches did not release a Week 2 poll and AP does not release a final poll.

References

^ Wiseman, Steve (July 2, 2020). "Duke's Joanne P. McCallie resigns as women's basketball coach". newsobserver.com. Raleight News & Observer. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
^ Chase, Brandon (July 11, 2020). "Kara Lawson accepts head women's basketball coach position at Duke". boston.com. Boston Globe. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
^ Feinberg, Doug (December 25, 2020). "AP source: Duke women end basketball season amid virus". Springfield News-Sun. Retrieved December 25, 2020.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
^ "Duke Blue Devils end women's basketball season amid coronavirus concerns". espn.com. ESPN. December 25, 2020. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
^ "NCAA cancels remaining winter and spring championships". March 12, 2020. Archived from the original on March 12, 2020.
^ "Duke Blue Devils". espn.com. ESPN. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
^ "Women's Basketball 2020-21 Schedule/Results". Duke Athletics. Retrieved December 1, 2020.

[1] Wiseman, Steve (July 2, 2020). "Duke's Joanne P. McCallie resigns as women's basketball coach". newsobserver.com. Raleight News & Observer. Retrieved November 12, 2020.

[2] Chase, Brandon (July 11, 2020). "Kara Lawson accepts head women's basketball coach position at Duke". boston.com. Boston Globe. Retrieved November 12, 2020.

[3] Feinberg, Doug (December 25, 2020). "AP source: Duke women end basketball season amid virus". Springfield News-Sun. Retrieved December 25, 2020.^{[permanent dead link‍]}

[4] "Duke Blue Devils end women's basketball season amid coronavirus concerns". espn.com. ESPN. December 25, 2020. Retrieved December 28, 2020.

[5] "NCAA cancels remaining winter and spring championships". March 12, 2020. Archived from the original on March 12, 2020.

[6] "Duke Blue Devils". espn.com. ESPN. Retrieved December 1, 2020.

[7] "Women's Basketball 2020-21 Schedule/Results". Duke Athletics. Retrieved December 1, 2020.

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v t e Duke Blue Devils women's basketball
Venues	Cameron Indoor Stadium (1975–present)
Rivalries	North Carolina (Carlyle Cup)
Culture & lore	"Blue and White" "Fight! Blue Devils, Fight!"
People	Head coaches
Seasons	1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA Final Four appearance in italics