Duke cruises into Elite Eight with rout of St Johns

Tricia Liston finished with 15 points while Chelsea Gray scored 13 and wreaked
havoc on defense by collecting eight steals for the second-seeded Blue Devils
(27-5) who advanced to the Regional Final where they will face either top-seed
Stanford or fifth-seed South Carolina on Monday.

Da’Shena Stevens scored 19 points and was the only player for St. Johns
(24-10) with more than six points. Nadirah McKenith pulled down a game-high
11 rebounds for the Red Storm which was making its first ever appearance in
the Sweet Sixteen.

St. Johns led 15-7 early in the first half Duke then took control and led
36-25 at the half after closing the period on an 11-0 run. The Blue Devils
shot 54.2 percent in the first half while the Red Storm connected on just
40.7 percent of its field goals.

Duke came out of the locker room and pushed its lead to 20, 49-29 with 16:15
remaining after rattling off a 13-4 run to open the second half. The Blue
Devils would never be in danger of losing the lead as they shot at a 53.3
percent clip over the last twenty minutes to just 29.0 percent by the Red
Storm.

The Blue Devils forced 19 St. Johns turnovers, blocked five shots as a team
and out rebounded the Red Storm by a 35-31 margin.