Oklahoma State Cowgirls at Duke Blue Devils

Second-seeded Duke staves off Oklahoma State's upset bid

They stormed back from 15 points down in the second half to beat Oklahoma State 68-59 on Tuesday night in the second round of the Norfolk Regional.

"Coach came in and just said we were just getting ready for a great comeback," forward Haley Peters said. "We knew we played a bad first half but we couldn't focus on that. It was more about how we were going to change in the second half ... and we were going to have a great comeback."

"I think it's pretty cool," Williams said.

Chloe Wells also finished with 13 points for Duke, which dug out of that deep hole by outscoring the seventh-seeded Cowgirls 47-23 during the final 19½ minutes to reach the tournament's second weekend for the 15th time in 16 years.

Duke improved to 20-1 in NCAA tournament games at Cameron and won its 20th straight home game.

"That was a blue-collar comeback," coach Joanne P. McCallie said. "That was guttural. That was gutsy."

Liz Donohoe had 14 points to lead Oklahoma State (22-11), which led for nearly all of the first 35 minutes but had 21 turnovers and made just 2 of 14 shots over the final 9½ minutes.

"We almost had to play a perfect game to win this game, and I thought we played pretty close to perfect in the first half and maybe the first 4-5 minutes in the second half," Oklahoma State coach Jim Littell said. "But it was a tough draw coming in here, because we know how good they are."

Brittney Martin added 13 points and her free throw with 7:50 left put the Cowgirls up 51-45.

That's when Duke finally started playing like a No. 2 seed going for its 18th straight NCAA tournament victory at home.

Alexis Jones hit a free throw before Liston finally warmed up after a 2-for-12 start, scoring six straight points to give Duke its first lead since the opening minutes.

She stuck back her missed jumper, drew contact, hit the following free throw and then buried a 3-pointer with 5½ minutes left to put the Blue Devils up 52-51.

That got Duke's decisive 17-2 run rolling, scoring on five straight possessions with Jones' free throws maxing out the lead at 62-53 with 53.8 seconds left.

They fell that far behind in the first minute of the second half and were in danger of being run completely off their home court before they got back in it with 12 straight points.

"You can want things too much sometimes and press a little bit and forget to play together," McCallie said. "Second half, very different story. Everybody on the same page, everybody pulling in the same direction and I thought it was a fascinating thing to be a part of."

That came after a first half in which the Cowgirls came into Cameron and made themselves right at home.

They led for all but about 2 minutes of the half while shooting nearly 47 percent in the opening 20 minutes.

Toni Young finished with 12 points and Tiffany Bias added 11 for Oklahoma State, which held Duke to 18 percent shooting from 3-point range in the first half.

"We're a fast and quick team, and we used what we got to build a lead against them," Young said.

Bias banked in a 3 with about 10 seconds left making it 34-21 at the break, and Martin hit a short jumper about 15 seconds into the second half to put the Blue Devils down by 15. But the Cowgirls couldn't hold on, and their third trip to the round of 16 slipped away down the stretch.

"We came to the toughest place as far as a No. 2 seed goes, and we went toe to toe for about 35 minutes with them," Littell said, "and I'm proud of our group for that."

How can I watch Cowgirls vs. Blue Devils?

• TV Channel: Cowgirls vs Blue Devils 2021 College Basketball, week 2, is broadcasted on ESPN3.
• Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.