Fil-American Vanessa de Jesus scored a career-high 17 points, including two of the team's 13 triples as the Duke women's basketball team pulled off an 83-56 victory over Western Carolina University Sunday afternoon.
This handed the Blue Devils their second straight win in their Division 1 National Collegiate Athletic Association encounter at the Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, North Carolina.
It was considered one of the Blue Devils' good starts under the direction of new head coach Kara Lawson.
Graduate student-transferee Sara Anastasieska showed the way for the Blue Devils with a game-high 23 points, while junior Miela Goodchild added 14 points.
Jade Williams came up with a near a triple-double of a career-high 15 rebounds, nine points and a career-high eight assists.
De Jesus was perfect from the field, hitting 6-of-6 field goals, 3-of-3 from downtown and 2-of-2 from the charity stripe.
“V is like a veteran, even though she's just a freshman. You can see it when you watch her,” said Lawson, who also took note of De Jesus’ composure during the game. “She’s very composed, doesn’t get rattled, understands the game at a high level, knows how to make reads, and understands how to get people involved.”
On the other hand, de Jesus said she is now living her dream to basketball for Duke.
“It’s been a dream of mine to play college basketball, especially here at Duke, such a high-level school with amazing players. I think just being out there and playing with my teammates makes it so much more enjoyable,” said De Jesus, who will be discussing her plans to be part of the Gilas pool with national coach Patrick Aquino during the course of the NCAA season.