Clash at Cameron: UAlbany Challenges #2 Duke
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DURHAM, N.C. – The Great Danes head to Tobacco Road to play one of the top teams in all of college basketball, facing #2 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
UAlbany head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson will face Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie. Abrahamson-Henderson was an assistant for McCallie at Maine and Michigan State.
UAlbany will look to rebound from its first loss of the season, a 74-53 home defeat to Quinnipiac, coming into Thursday at 8-1 and ranked #10 in the mid-major poll. Duke is ranked #2 in each the AP and USA Today Polls, standing 10-1 after falling at home to #1 Connecticut on Tuesday 83-61. Duke is 1-0 all-time against UAlbany, winning 83-48 on December 9, 2010.
Shereesha Richards is coming off having been selected as the America East Player of the Week for the fifth time this season after earning a pair of double-doubles last week against NJIT and Quinnipiac.
UAlbany still stands in the top-10 of the College Insider Mid-Major Poll after its first defeat of the year to Quinnipiac and an 8-1 season. Shereesha Richards leads the conference with 23.9 points a game, shooting a conference-best 66.7% from the field. Sarah Royals is averaging 13.7 points a contest to stand seventh in the America East. UAlbany is #1 in the America East in numerous scoring categories, including scoring with 72.4 points a game, scoring margin at +12.6, free throw percentage at 72.9% and field goal percentage at 49.9%.
Duke, a three-time Atlantic Coast Conference champion the past four years, ranks #2 in the nation and has been to the NCAA Elite Eight the past three years. This season, the Blue Devils have defeated three ranked teams: California, Purdue and Oklahoma, while falling to Connecticut on Tuesday. The team ranks second in the country with a 51.5% field goal percentage and third with a 43.9% three-point field goal percentage. Senior guard Tricia Liston leads the team with 17.5 points a game, adding 6.3 boards a contest and shooting 50.8% from beyond the arc. 6-foot-3 guard/forward Haley Peters is the team’s top rebounder, averaging 12.7 points and 8.6 boards per game, while junior frontcourt player Elizabeth Williams shoots 56.4%, earning 13.4 points, six rebounds and 2.6 blocks per contest.
