Dukes Hits 1,000, ‘Cats Win UNCW Tournament Title

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WILMINGTON, N.C. — Dakota Dukes scored a game-high 20 points, reaching the 1,000 mark in her career, and Davidson took home the UNC Wilmington Hampton Inn Thanksgiving Tournament title with a 77-50 victory over host UNCW Saturday afternoon in women's basketball at Trask Coliseum.

Davidson, which won its third straight to improve to 4-2 on the season, picked up its seventh in-season tournament title since 1992-93 and its first in three tries at the Seahawks' Thanksgiving Tournament. The title is also the second under head coach Michele Savage.

Dukes, who was 6-of-9 from the floor and a perfect 8-for-8 at the free throw line, reached the milestone in the first quarter when she swished home a pair of free shots with 27.9 seconds on the clock for her 999th and 1,000th points. She became the 18th player in program history to score over 1,000 points for a career.

The senior forward finished the two-day tournament scoring 34 points on 12-of-16 shooting and a perfect 10-for-10 showing at the charity stripe. She also pulled in 13 rebounds and blocked six shots, giving her 12 blocks in the last three games.

Hannah Early and Mackenzie Latt each chipped in 13 points to help Dukes, while Davidson got a season-high 27 points from its bench, led by Diona Johnson's eight points. In all, 11 of the 13 Wildcats that saw action put their names in the scorer's book.

Davidson shot a season-best 50.9 percent (28-55) and hit a season-high 14-of-16 free throws. The Wildcats again won the rebounding column with a 45-23 edge, and hauled in 14 offensive rebounds to tie a season-high with 19 second-chance points.

It was all Davidson from the start as Dukes and Early got things going first. Early broke out of a shooting slump to score a quick eight points, six on three-balls, and the Wildcats were up 12-5. Her senior teammate, Dukes, took over and scored eight of her own, and 10 in the quarter, to reach 1,000 career points, and it was 21-14 at the end of the first quarter.

A pair of Saadia Timpton free throws with 6:47 on the clock in the second quarter made it 30-19. The Wildcats continued to push its lead out, getting two Rachel Piles' buckets inside later to make it 38-22, and then two free throws and a three-ball from Latt in the corner followed by a Kyla Roland layup in the post gave Davidson a commanding 45-25 lead at halftime.

The Wildcats would hold their 20-point lead through the third quarter and pushed the advantage to as many as 29 (77-48) on Kianna Speight's three-pointer with 2:10 left in the fourth quarter.

UNC Wilmington (2-2) put two players in double digits, led by Shatia Cole's 17 points. Jordan Henry had a double-double on 16 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

The 'Cats held the Seahawks to 31 percent shooting, while forcing 14 turnovers and turning those into a season-high 21 points.

Davidson wraps up its long road trip to start the season with an 11:30 a.m. Education Day game at Radford, Dec. 2.

GAME NOTES: This was the ninth meeting between both teams … Davidson won its fourth game in the series … the 'Cats' seven-game road swing to start the year is the longest since an eight-game trip at the beginning of the 2009-10 campaign … Dukes' 20-point outing was her second of the season and the sixth of her career … with her 1,010 career points, Dukes is in 17th all-time in scoring … Early is in 9th place with 1,121 points and needs 15 more three-pointers to move into third all-time in made threes.

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