Duke had to fight to get to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA women's tournament. But the No. 2 seed in the Birmingham 2 region overcame a poor shooting start with a strong second half and prevailed over No. 10 Oregon, 59-53, on its home court at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Both teams struggled to score early on, but Oregon built a 7-2 lead before Duke tightened its defense and came back to tie the game. The Ducks had two long stretches — lasting five and three minutes, respectively — without scoring, which allowed the Blue Devils to close to within 28-23 at halftime despite scoring only nine points in the first quarter and shooting 36%.