No. 6 Duke Falls to No. 1 UConn, 81-48

Monday, January 18

Durham, N.C.

7:00 p.m.

Duke University

UConn

Thomas Among 40 Finalists for the State Farm All-America

No. 6 Duke Falls to No. 1 UConn, 81-48

1/18/2010 9:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball

By: Duke Sports Information

Follow Duke women's basketball on Twitter. Click here for more information and to sign up head to Twitter.com. All Blue Devil fans can also become a fan of Duke Women's Basketball on Facebook. Click here to join the Official Duke Women's Basketball Page. If you are not signed up on Facebook, just head to http://www.facebook.com and then click here to join the "Official Duke Women's Basketball Page."

DURHAM, N.C. - Junior Jasmine Thomas scored a team-high 17 points and dished out four assists, but it was not enough for the Duke Blue Devils (15-3, 3-0) who fell to the top-ranked Connecticut Huskies 81-48 from Cameron Indoor Stadium Monday night.

It was the 13^th sellout in Duke women's basketball history with 9,314 in attendance.

"It was a great crowd and a great environment for women's basketball, I'm very proud of that environment and I'm very proud of the people that came out to support the team tonight," head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. "I'm very proud of our team's effort in terms of playing hard, but very disappointed [in the outcome] as you might imagine."

Thomas was the only Duke player to score in double figures. Seniors Joy Cheek and Bridgette Mitchell each chipped in with 8 points for the Blue Devils, who fell for the first time at home this season, and for the first time in Duke's last 24 home contests.

The loss for Duke also snapped a three-game winning streak over No. 1 ranked teams.

The Huskies (18-0, 5-0) were led by Maya Moore with 20 points and Kalana Greene with 18.

Both schools opened up with some nerves, with each turning the ball over on their first possessions. The Huskies tallied the first points of the game on a three pointer from Tiffany Hayes. Duke got on the board three minutes later thanks to a three-point jumper from Cheek.

The Huskies never trailed, opening up a 13 point lead during the first half. Duke whittled it down to 10 by halftime thanks to inspired play from Thomas, who scored 11 points in the opening half on 5-of-11 shooting.

"I thought we had a slow start," McCallie said. "We didn't engage quickly enough, but I thought that the second 10 minutes of the first half we were more on our game so I was happy about that."

Duke opened the second half with a steal and layup from Thomas to cut the lead to eight. That was as close as the Blue Devils would get the rest of the night. Just over six minutes later the Huskies were up by 22 points finishing the second half with eight three-point field goals.

"I don't feel that the pace they play at is any different from what we're use to in the ACC, but I do know that they find each other well playing at the pace that they do, so they know when to attack and when to slow it down," Thomas said.

"It's the same as any other game," Thomas added. "You go, you watch film, you see what you did well and what you could get better at, and you take those positives and continue with those, and then we'll fix the things we need to work on."

Duke kept battling for the entire 40 minutes posting a 35-31 edge on the boards and a 17-9 advantage on the offensive glass. The Blue Devils scored 17 points on second chances and 20 points in the paint with Karima Christmas leading the way with seven rebounds.

Duke will host Virginia Tech on Thursday, Jan. 21 at 7:00 p.m. in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

"I'm excited for ACC play, we've got a great game on Thursday night and we'll get right at it," McCallie said. "A little film in the morning always brightens your day and allows us to learn what we need to learn and we'll move forward."

Note: The first sellout crowd in school history was on Feb. 1, 2003 as No. 1 Duke fell, 77-65, to No. 2 Connecticut.