Brown helps No. 16 Duke women hold off Virginia 55-48

DURHAM, N.C. -- Lexie Brown, held scoreless in the first half, had nine of her 14 points in the fourth quarter and No. 16 Duke ended Virginia's eight-game winning streak with a 55-48 win on Sunday.

After missing all seven of her shots before halftime, Brown made all the plays down the stretch to help the Blue Devils (14-4, 3-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) improve to 11-0 home and knock the Cavaliers (12-7, 5-1) out of a first-place tie.

Duke got a 3-point play from Erin Mathias, who had 12 points, to open the fourth quarter for a 43-36 lead. Virginia scored the next five before Brown hit a 3-pointer. Brown had a layup in a flurry of 3-pointers that saw Virginia close within 49-48 on a layup by J'Kyra Brown with 1:12 to play.

Lexie Brown, who scored 61 points and shot 53 percent in her previous two games, then used a pump fake to draw a foul for two made free throws with 40.9 seconds left and then came up with her sixth steal to score two more from the line with 29.6 seconds remaining.

Virginia missed its last three shots and Haley Gorecki and Leaonna Odom both went 1 of 2 from the line to wrap up the Blue Devils' 26th straight win over Virginia.

Aliyah Huland El had 14 points for the Cavs, who were off to their best start in league play since 2000, and Jocelyn Willoughby had 11 points and 10 boards.