The Duke Blue Devils women's basketball team is the college basketball program representing

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

in the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

of NCAA Division I.

Team history

In 1974, Duke hired Emma Jean Howard to teach physical education, and to serve as the head coach of the women's basketball and volleyball teams. Initially, women's basketball was played as a club sport. In the first season, 1974–75, the team played locally, finishing second in the state with a 6–7 record. The women's athletic department merged with the men's athletics in 1975, and the second year is considered as the first official season of the program as a varsity sport. Howard remained as the head coach for the next two years. In 1977, Howard remained as the volleyball coach, while Duke moved up to Division I and hired Debbie Leonard to be the head coach of the women's basketball program.

Duke in the WNBA

Many Duke Women's Basketball players have continued their basketball careers professionally through the WNBA and overseas. As of 2016, 10 former Blue Devils were represented on WNBA Teams. Among those Duke alums include, Mistie Bass ('06,

Phoenix Mercury The Phoenix Mercury are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona, playing in the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded before the league ...

Alana Beard Alana Monique Beard (born May 14, 1982) is an American former professional basketball player. After playing college basketball for the Duke Blue Devils, she was drafted second overall by the Washington Mystics in the 2004 WNBA Draft. She signed ...

(‘04, Los Angeles Sparks),

Karima Christmas-Kelly Karima Brittany Christmas-Kelly (born September 11, 1989) is an American basketball coach and former professional basketball player. Christmas-Kelly is currently an assistant coach for the Indiana Fever of the WNBA. She played college basketball ...

(‘11,

Minnesota Lynx The Minnesota Lynx are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team won the WNBA title in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017. Founded pr ...

), Monique Currie ('06, Washington Mystics), Chelsea Gray ('14, Los Angeles Sparks),

Lindsey Harding Lindsey Marcie Harding (born June 12, 1984) is an American professional basketball coach and former player. She serves as player development coach of the Sacramento Kings. Throughout her playing career, Harding played for the Minnesota Lynx, Was ...

(‘07,

Tricia Liston Patricia Maureen Liston (born February 20, 1992) is an American professional basketball player. Born in Chicago, Illinois, she is a graduate of Fenwick High School in Oak Park, Illinois. She was drafted in 2014 by the Minnesota Lynx of the WNBA ...

('14,

Haley Peters Haley Peters (born September 17, 1992) is an American professional women's basketball forward. She was undrafted in the 2014 WNBA Draft, but has signed with three separate teams in her career. College career Before coming to Duke, Peters was a ...

('14, Atlanta Dream), Jasmine Thomas (‘11, Connecticut Sun),

Krystal Thomas Krystal Thomas (born June 10, 1989) is a former American professional basketball player in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). USA Basketball Thomas was selected as a member of the USA Women's U19 team which won the gold medal at ...

(‘11, Washington Mystics), and Elizabeth Williams ('15, Atlanta Dream). The

were crowned WNBA champs in 2015 with Tricia Liston on the roster. In 2016, the Los Angeles Sparks won the WNBA championship with Alana Beard and Chelsea Gray on the roster.

Duke Women's Basketball Overseas

Duke Women's Basketball has 14 former players playing professionally overseas in the 2016–2017 season. The former Blue Devils playing overseas include, Alana Beard (Duke ‘04, Avenida, Spain), Chante Black (Duke '09, Ramat Hasharon, Israel), Karima Christmas (Duke ‘11, Winnus, South Korea), Monique Currie (Duke ‘06, Woori Bank, South Korea), Chelsea Gray (Duke '14, Abdullah Gul, Turkey), Lindsey Harding (Duke ‘07, Besiktas, Turkey), Haley Peters (Duke ‘14, Girona, Spain), Angela Salvadores (Duke '16, Avenida, Spain), Kathleen Scheer (Duke '12, Hobart Chargers, Australia), Shay Selby (Duke '12, Bodrum, Turkey), Jasmine Thomas (Duke ‘11, Ramat Hasharon), Allison Vernerey (Duke '13, A.S.V. Basket, France), Chloe Wells (Duke ‘14, Araski, Spain), and Elizabeth Williams (Duke '15, Nadezhda Orenburg, Russia).

Year by year

Source:

NCAA tournament results

Duke has appeared in 24 NCAA tournaments with a record of 58-24.

References

External links

* {{Atlantic Coast Conference women's basketball navbox