The Duke Blue Devils were too much for the UAA women's basketball team Sunday in Durham, North Carolina.
Too much size, mostly, and too much too early. The Blue Devils, a Sweet 16 team last season and the 21st-ranked team heading into this season, used a fast start and superior size to rattle the Seawolves 75-54 in an exhibition game at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Leaonna Odom, a 6-foot-2 junior, and Jade Williams, a 6-5 sophomore, poured in 17 points apiece on combined 15-of-20 shooting to lead Duke.
Odom was particularly lethal in the first quarter. She hit all six of her shots, most of them driving layups, to lift the Blue Devils to a 29-17 lead in the first 10 minutes.
UAA led briefly, 3-2, on Tara Thompson's 3-pointer, but Duke shot nearly 80 percent — 11 of 14 — in the first quarter to run away from the Seawolves.
The Seawolves were hurt by 20 turnovers and a 44-23 disparity on the boards. By halftime, they trailed 46-27.
"Against an opponent like Duke, any mistake that you make gets turned into points, so we had to hold ourselves to a high standard," UAA coach Ryan McCarthy said in a release from the school. "In the first half we didn't do that, but in the second half we did a much better job of executing our game plan and playing to the standard of our program."
Yazmeen Goo was UAA's only double-figure scorer with 13 points. Thompson and Sydni Stallworth each pitched in nine points and Kian McNair grabbed four of the team's nine steals.
Hannah Wandersee, a 6-2 senior center, was limited to four points and five rebounds as Duke outscored the Seawolves 42-20 in the paint.
Duke's Haley Gorecki, a 6-0 junior guard, racked up 18 pints, 10 rebonds and four assists but had seven of her team's 20 turnovers. Onorne Akinbode-James, a 6-3 freshman forward, had 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Blue Devils.
UAA, the sixth-ranked team in Division II, begins regular-season play next weekend with games Saturday (Holy Names) and Sunday (San Francisco State) in California.