Elizabeth Williams

Liz once again shot too quickly, in part because Purdue's bigs blocked 5 or 6 of her shots. Fortunately for Duke, Williams seems to have no memory of missed shots, because she kept coming at them until shots started to fall, or else someone else grabbed her misses and scored. Williams' 17 rebounds is a record for Duke rookies, and it may be one she breaks later in the year. Her shotblocking (4 of them) was also quite impressive, saving several sure baskets. Liz made some mistakes with the ball, didn't always effectively deal with double-teams coming from two big opponents and traveled a couple of times, but her gorgeous pass to Vernerey that led to a three point play was a smart, well-timed play. This is a player you just throw on the court and let her go; she never loses aggressiveness and tends to get better as the game wears on. It's rare that you can say that a player who shot 2-17 from the floor still had a very solid performance, but that was true her

Haley Peters

Haley read that Purdue was going to double-team Williams every time and aggressively hunted open shots as a result. She drove when the lane was open and hit a barrage of jumpers between 5 and 15 feet. She didn't score in the last thirteen minutes of the game, but her 14 points up to that interval is what kept Duke in the game. She hustled like crazy for rebounds, flying out of bounds to fling the ball to teammates and fighting off stronger opponents for the ball. It was encouraging to see her bounce back after the Notre Dame game and attack a strong opponent with confidence.

Tricia Liston

Tricia had an early stickback and assist to Peters, but she struggled on offense against a Purdue team that was ready to guard her. To her credit, she never stopped battling on the boards and came up with a crucial offensive rebound during Duke's second-half run.

Chloe Wells

After going scoreless against Notre Dame, Wells was very aggressive from the very beginning. At one point, she scored 6 straight points for Duke when they were building an early lead, including a strip and layup. When Purdue took a lead late in the first half, she answered with a three thanks to a pass from Peters. In the second half, she dished twice to Jackson for scores, followed her own shot for a layup, hit Vernerey on an inbounds play and then sank 2 crucial free throws down the stretch to push Duke's lead to 9. She held Purdue point guard KK Houser to 0-6 shooting and forced 4 turnovers. She also had an impressive block on Courtney Moses.

Chelsea Gray

Chelsea did a lot of good things but also made a lot of mistakes. It wasn't just that she had a couple of passes to no one in particular in an attempt to make a spectacular play. That can be tolerated. She was sloppy with the ball a couple of times going to the basket and had it stripped, which displayed a slight lack of focus. On the other hand, she really stepped up in the second half. She found Peters for a reverse, drained 2 clutch free throws and then had a game-clinching steal that led to a three point play in transition. That was the knockout punch that Duke wanted, and her teammates knew it, mobbing her after the play. She also took a key charge in the second half. In the first half, she scored on a tough jumper, an off-balance runner, and an acrobatic drive. She also found Henson for a score. Gray stuffed the stat sheet in her usual fashion, with 3 steals, 2 blocks and a gritty 7 rebounds. It was a solid game overall but didn't quite scratch her potential.