Freshman Vanessa De Jesus tallied 11 points for the Duke women’s basketball team, which took a 49-73 loss to second-ranked Louisville on Wednesday evening at the Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, North Carolina.
The Blue Devils now have a 3-1 win-loss on the season, while Louisville moved ahead with their fifth straight win, and share a five-way lead in the Athletic Coast Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division 1 standings.
De Jesus, an 18-year old Fil-American prospect for the Gilas women’s national team took charge for the Blue Devils as they went on a 7-2 run in the third quarter, and tried to catch up from an 11-point halftime deficit.
The 5’10” Jesus, who had a matchup with Louisville top scorer Dana Evans, went on to make five straight points, including Duke’s first three-pointer of the contest at the 7:02 mark.
This allowed the Blue Devils to stay within range, 37-29.
Jade Williams led the Blue Devils with a season-high 13 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots.
Duke hit a season-low 36.1 percent from the field and hit only 1-of-16 three-point field goals.
The Blue Devils will next be at Coral Gables, Florida. to face Miami on Sunday.
De Jesus was given ample playing time, and was on the floor for more than 30 minutes for the fourth consecutive game.
Louisville, led by Evans with 24 points, scored 23 points on 18 Duke turnovers.
“We had a hard time scoring the whole night. Like I said, in the first quarter, missed a ton of layups, had four or five threes roll in and out. It’s a part of it, and I told our group after the game when you have nights like that you got to be able to play your defense at a really high level to give you a chance,” said Duke coach Kara Lawson in a statement.
Lawson said de Jesus’ game against Evans gave her a chance to see how de Jesus fares under pressure.
“That’s obviously what they do, pressure the ball, and so that’s something we worked at for a couple of days leading in just with all our guards. All of our guards need to keep growing in that area, handling the pressure better,” said Lawson.