Associated Press
GREENSBORO ó None of Dukeís starters reached double figures in scoring. Neither did any of the older Blue Devils.
They didnít need to ó not with the freshmen shooting like this.
Richa Jackson scored a season-high 15 points, one of three freshmen with at least 10 points in No. 8 Dukeís 79-50 victory over Wake Forest in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament Friday.
Haley Peters added 11 points and Chelsea Gray finished with 10 for the top-seeded Blue Devils (27-3).
ěWe talk all the time about going 11 for 11,î said Peters, referring to the 11 players on the Duke roster. ěEverybody needs to produce and just have a lot of energy and play hard and put everything out there. We did that.î
The Blue Devils shot nearly 51 percent and hit half of their 3-pointers to win their fourth straight, opening the defense of their ACC tournament title by beating Wake Forest for the 35th straight time.
ěTheyíre 27-3. Itís not like they beat us 26 times and somebody else once,î Wake Forest coach Mike Petersen said.
The Blue Devils used two huge runs to build an early lead, then came up with another overwhelming burst to pull away down the stretch and advance to a semifinal matchup against No. 5 Georgia Tech today.
Sandra Garcia scored 19 points to lead the Demon Deacons (15-17), and she pulled them within 12 when she hit a 3-pointer with 111/2 minutes remaining.
Duke then reeled off 10 straight points as part of a 19-4 run, with Gray hitting a pair of 3s to start the spurt and Chloe Wells hitting from long range to push it to 66-39.
Gray, a regular starter who was limited to eight total minutes in Dukeís last three games with a sprained left ankle, came off the bench and had a perfect shooting day. Playing in her first career ACC tournament game, she hit all three of her attempts from the field, both of her 3-pointers and two free throws in 14 minutes.