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Duke dominates Skyhawks in NCAA Tournament

Mar 19, 2011 - 11:06 PM Durham, NC (Sports Network) - Jasmine Thomas scored a game-high 18 points and handed out five assists as the Duke Blue Devils demolished the Skyhawks of Tennessee-Martin, 90-45, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Also scoring in double figures for second-seeded Duke (30-3) were Chelsea Gray and Haley Peters with 11 points apiece in the onslaught.

The 15th-seeded Skyhawks (21-11) were paced by Heather Butler who tallied 15 points, but she shot only 1-of-11 behind the three-point line and 6-of-21 from the floor overall on the day. Taylor Hall chipped in 10 points off the bench.

Duke scored the first points of the afternoon and never looked back, putting up a 41-31 lead at the break on the strength of 53.1 percent shooting from the floor.

In the second half UTM completely fell apart with a mere 5-of-19 shooting from the floor, compared to 20-of-37 for the hosts as the Blue Devils ran away with the easy win.

Defensively, Duke forced 24 turnovers and limited the visitors to a mere 4- of-17 shooting from three-point range on the day.

Duke now prepares to take on 10th-seeded Marist in the second round of the tournament next week.