Mississippi State season ends at Duke
Published 12:01 am Monday, March 23, 2015
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Elizabeth Williams’ Duke teammates weren’t going to let her final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium turn into her last college game, period.
Freshman Azura Stevens had 22 points and 10 rebounds, and the Blue Devils beat Mississippi State 64-56 on Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Williams scored 12 points in her Cameron finale and Rebecca Greenwell added 17 with three 3-pointers for fourth-seeded Duke (23-10).
The Blue Devils shot 52 percent, used a timely 26-5 run to build a 15-point lead and held on to earn a spot in the round of 16. They will play the Princeton-Maryland winner on Saturday in the Spokane Region semifinals.
“Survive and advance, I guess,” Williams said.
Victoria Vivians scored 15 points and Kendra Grant added 12 for the fifth-seeded Bulldogs (27-7). They clawed within 58-52 on Morgan William’s free throw with 1:21 left.
But Dominique Dillingham was called for a blocking foul with 1:02 left, and coach Vic Schaefer received a technical foul for arguing that Greenwell should have been whistled for using her forearm, and had to be restrained by two of his assistants.
“I’m going to fight for her every day and twice on Sunday,” Schaefer said.
After Greenwell hit 3 of 4 free throws, Mississippi State never got closer than eight in the final minute.
Ka’lia Johnson added 10 points for Duke, which had reached the tournament’s second weekend in four straight years before DePaul came here last year and knocked the Blue Devils out in the second round.
It looked like it might happen again when Martha Alwal put Mississippi State up 37-31 with a banked-in jumper with just under 16 minutes left.
That’s when Duke took over.
Greenwell started the decisive run with a straightaway 3-pointer, and Duke reeled off 12 straight points during the run, going up 57-42 on Williams’ layup in the post with five-and-a-half minutes left.
“We had a string of consecutive stops, and I think that’s really what fueled it,” Williams said.