Duke rookie and Gilas Pilipinas prospect Vanessa de Jesus was impressive in her Blue Devils debut with 13 points, four assists, three rebounds and one blocked shot in 31 minutes.
The 18-year-old Fil-American cager came up with this showing at the start of their National Collegiate Athletic Association Division 1 campaign Wednesday
The Blue Devils, who are slated to next face East Carolina, turned in an impressive, 94-64, victory over Longwood in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
De Jesus, who recently accepted an invitation to join the Gilas program, became the first Duke freshman to start at guard in their first game since Mikayla Boykin in 2017.
And de Jesus’ output is the most by a freshman that started their first game since Rebecca Greenwell had 17 in 2014 at Alabama.
Overall, de Jesus is the 30th Duke freshman to start her first collegiate game.
The Blue Devils are handled by l head coach Kara Lawson, who was hired at Duke in July.
The Blue Devils were led by sophomore Jaida Patrick, who scored a career-high 21 points to go along with seven rebounds and five assists.
Onome Akinbode-James, a junior, added her third collegiate double-double with career highs of 15 points and 16 rebounds.
Duke and East Carolina will meet for the eighth time in school history.
