The Duke Blue Devils women's basketball team is the
college basketball
College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...
program representing
Duke University
Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...
in the
Atlantic Coast Conference
The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...
of
NCAA Division I
NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...
.
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 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. The Mercury compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. One of eight original franchises, it wa ...
),
Alana Beard (‘04,
Los Angeles Sparks
The Los Angeles Sparks are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. The team plays its home games at Crypto.co ...
),
Karima Christmas-Kelly (‘11,
Minnesota Lynx
The Minnesota Lynx are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Lynx compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference. The team won the WNBA ...
),
Monique Currie
Monique Currie (born February 25, 1983) is an American former basketball player in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Born in Washington, D.C., Currie went to high school at the Bullis School in Potomac, Maryland, where she was a ...
('06,
Washington Mystics
The Washington Mystics are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Mystics compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference. The team was ...
),
Chelsea Gray ('14,
Los Angeles Sparks
The Los Angeles Sparks are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. The team plays its home games at Crypto.co ...
),
Lindsey Harding (‘07,
Phoenix Mercury
The Phoenix Mercury are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Mercury compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. One of eight original franchises, it wa ...
),
Tricia Liston ('14,
Minnesota Lynx
The Minnesota Lynx are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Lynx compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference. The team won the WNBA ...
),
Haley Peters ('14,
Atlanta Dream),
Jasmine Thomas (‘11,
Connecticut Sun
The Connecticut Sun are an American professional basketball team based in Uncasville, Connecticut. The Sun compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference. The team i ...
),
Krystal Thomas (‘11,
Washington Mystics
The Washington Mystics are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Mystics compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference. The team was ...
), and
Elizabeth Williams ('15,
Atlanta Dream).
The
Minnesota Lynx
The Minnesota Lynx are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Lynx compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference. The team won the WNBA ...
were crowned WNBA champs in 2015 with Tricia Liston on the roster.
In 2016, the
Los Angeles Sparks
The Los Angeles Sparks are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. The team plays its home games at Crypto.co ...
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:
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, colspan="8" align="center" ,
Atlantic Coast Conference
The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...
NCAA tournament results
Duke has appeared in 27 NCAA tournaments with a record of 64–27.
Footnotes
References
External links
*
{{Atlantic Coast Conference women's basketball navbox