2020–21 Duke Blue Devils women's basketball team

The 2020–21 Duke Blue Devils women's basketball team represented Duke University during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Blue Devils were led by first year head coach Kara Lawson and played their home games at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, North Carolina as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

2020–21 Duke Blue Devils women's basketball
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
2020–21 record	3–1 (0–1 ACC)
Head coach	Kara Lawson (1st season)
Assistant coaches	Beth Cunningham Winston Gandy Tia Jackson
Home arena	Cameron Indoor Stadium

2020–21 ACC women's basketball standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 1 Louisville	10	–	1		.909			17	–	1		.944
No. 4 NC State	7	–	1		.875			12	–	1		.923
Georgia Tech	9	–	2		.818			11	–	3		.786
Syracuse	7	–	4		.636			10	–	4		.714
Florida State	5	–	4		.556			6	–	4		.600
Notre Dame	6	–	5		.545			8	–	7		.533
Clemson	5	–	7		.417			10	–	7		.588
Virginia Tech	5	–	7		.417			10	–	7		.588
Wake Forest	5	–	7		.417			8	–	8		.500
Miami (FL)	4	–	7		.364			7	–	7		.500
Pittsburgh	2	–	5		.286			4	–	6		.400
North Carolina	3	–	8		.273			8	–	8		.500
Boston College	1	–	8		.111			5	–	8		.385
Duke	0	–	1		.000			3	–	1		.750
Virginia	0	–	2		.000			0	–	5		.000
Duke suspended their season on December 25, 2020 Virginia suspended their season on January 14, 2021
† 2021 ACC Tournament winner As of February 4, 2020; Rankings from AP Poll

During the off-season, Duke announced that head coach Joanne McCallie had retired after thirteen years as head coach.[1] On July 11, 2020, Kara Lawson was announced as the new head coach.[2]

On December 25, 2020, it was announced that the team would end their season due to COVID-19 concerns.[3][4]

Previous season

The 2019-20 Blue Devils finished the season 18–12, 12–6 in ACC play to finish in third place for the regular season. As the third seed in the ACC tournament, they lost to Boston College in the Quarterfinals. The NCAA Tournament and WNIT were cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.[5]

Off-season

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Reason for Departure
Haley Gorecki	2	G	6'0"	Senior	Palatine, IL	Graduated
Leaonna Odom	5	F	6'2"	Senior	Lompoc, CA	Declared for 2020 WNBA draft; drafted 15th overall by New York Liberty
Azana Baines	11	G	6'1"	Freshman	Blackwood, NJ	Transferred to Virginia Tech
Kyra Lambert	15	G	5'9"	Graduate Student	Cibolo, TX	Graduated
Emily Schubert	30	C	6'4"	Senior	Elizabethon, TN	Graduated

Incoming transfers

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Previous School
Sara Anastasieska	11	G	5'11"	Graduate Student	Sydney, Australia	Cal
Jiselle Havas	33	G	5'10"	Junior	Windermere, FL	Lafayette

Recruiting Class

Source:[6]

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes

Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Vanessa DeJesus PG	Valencia, CA	Sierra Canyon	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	N/A	May 21, 2019
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A    ESPN:   ESPN grade: 97
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources:

Roster

2020–21 Duke Blue Devils women's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Year Previous school Hometown G/F 0 Jaida Patrick 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) So Saddle River Day West Haverstraw, NY G 2 Vanessa de Jesus 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) Fr Sierra Canyon Valencia, CA G 3 Miela Goodchild 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Jr Moreton Bay College Queensland, Australia G/F 4 Jada Claude 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) So Whitewater Fayetteville, GA G 11 Sara Anastasieska 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) GS Monte Sant Angelo Mercy UTSA Cal Sydney, Australia G 12 Mikayla Boykin 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) Sr Clinton Clinton, NC C 13 Uchenna Nwoke 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) Jr South Grand Prairie High School Grand Prairie, TX F 22 Jennifer Ezeh 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) So New Hope Academy Nibo, Nigeria F/C 24 Onome Akinbode-James 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Jr Blair Academy Blairstown, NJ F/C 25 Jade Williams 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) Sr Owensboro Catholic Owensboro, KY G 32 Jayda Adams 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Sr Mater Dei Irvine, CA G 33 Jiselle Havas 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Jr Lake Highland Prep Lafayette Windermere, FL	Head coach Kara Lawson (Tennessee) Assistant coach(es) Beth Cunningham (Notre Dame) Winston Gandy (Maryland) Tia Jackson (Iowa) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster Last update: December 1, 2020

Schedule

Source[7]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular season
November 25, 2020* Noon, ACCN		Longwood	W 94–64	1–0	Cameron Indoor Stadium (0) Durham, NC
November 29, 2020* Noon, ACCNX		Western Carolina	W 83–56	2–0	Cameron Indoor Stadium (0) Durham, NC
December 5, 2020* Noon, ACCNX		East Carolina	W 72–47	3–0	Cameron Indoor Stadium (0) Durham, NC
December 9, 2020 7:00 p.m., RSN		No. 2 Louisville	L 49–73	3–1 (0–1)	Cameron Indoor Stadium (0) Durham, NC
December 13, 2020 3:00 p.m., RSN		at Miami (FL)	Season Canceled		Watsco Center  Coral Gables, FL
December 20, 2020 4:00 p.m., ACCN		at No. 4 NC State	Season Canceled		Reynolds Coliseum  Raleigh, NC
December 22, 2020* 4:00 p.m., ACCN		UNC Wilmington	Season Canceled		Cameron Indoor Stadium  Durham, NC
December 31, 2020 3:00 p.m., ACCN		No. 2 Louisville	Season Canceled		Cameron Indoor Stadium  Durham, NC
January 3, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCNX		Virginia Tech	Season Canceled		Cameron Indoor Stadium  Durham, NC
January 7, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		at Florida State	Season Canceled		Donald L. Tucker Center  Tallahassee, FL
January 10, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCNX		at Boston College	Season Canceled		Conte Forum  Chestnut Hill, MA
January 14, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		Clemson	Season Canceled		Cameron Indoor Stadium  Durham, NC
January 17, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCN		at North Carolina Rivalry	Season Canceled		Carmichael Arena  Chapel Hill, NC
January 21, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		Syracuse	Season Canceled		Cameron Indoor Stadium  Durham, NC
January 24, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCNX		at Georgia Tech	Season Canceled		McCamish Pavilion  Atlanta, GA
January 28, 2021 8:00 p.m., ACCN		NC State	Season Canceled		Cameron Indoor Stadium  Durham, NC
January 31, 2021 4:00 p.m., ACCN		at Notre Dame	Season Canceled		Purcell Pavilion  Notre Dame, IN
February 4, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		at Virginia	Season Canceled		John Paul Jones Arena  Charlottesville, VA
February 7, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCNX		Miami (FL)	Season Canceled		Cameron Indoor Stadium  Durham, NC
February 14, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCNX		Pittsburgh	Season Canceled		Cameron Indoor Stadium  Durham, NC
February 18, 2021 6:00 p.m., ACCNX		at Virginia Tech	Season Canceled		Cassell Coliseum  Blacksburg, VA
February 21, 2021 1:00 p.m.		at Wake Forest	Season Canceled		LJVM Coliseum  Winston-Salem, NC
February 25, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		Virginia	Season Canceled		Cameron Indoor Stadium  Durham, NC
February 28, 2021 2:00 p.m., RSN		North Carolina Rivalry	Season Canceled		Cameron Indoor Stadium  Durham, NC
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll,. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time.

Rankings

2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball rankings

Regular Season Polls

Poll	Pre- Season	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7	Week 8	Week 9	Week 10	Week 11	Week 12	Week 13	Week 14	Week 15	Week 16	Week 17	Week 18	Week 19	Final
AP	RV	RV	RV
Coaches																				N/A;"

Legend

		Increase in ranking
		Decrease in ranking
		No Change
(RV)		Received Votes
(NR)		Not Ranked

Coaches did not release a Week 2 poll and AP does not release a final poll.

See also

• 2020–21 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team

References

1. Wiseman, Steve (July 2, 2020). "Duke's Joanne P. McCallie resigns as women's basketball coach". newsobserver.com. Raleight News & Observer. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
2. Chase, Brandon (July 11, 2020). "Kara Lawson accepts head women's basketball coach position at Duke". boston.com. Boston Globe. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
3. Feinberg, Doug (December 25, 2020). "AP source: Duke women end basketball season amid virus". Springfield News-Sun. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
4. "Duke Blue Devils end women's basketball season amid coronavirus concerns". espn.com. ESPN. December 25, 2020. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
5. "NCAA cancels remaining winter and spring championships".
6. "Duke Blue Devils". espn.com. ESPN. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
7. "Women's Basketball 2020-21 Schedule/Results". Duke Athletics. Retrieved December 1, 2020.