With Duke off to a slow start in its season opener, Karima Christmas took over.
The senior forward scored 16 of the Blue Devils' first 22 points to lead No. 6 Duke to a 69-54 victory on Saturday night.
''I just kept on thinking to attack,'' said Christmas, who led all scorers with 20 points and added eight rebounds. ''Not settling for outside shots, just keep going in. Eventually you'll get a call and go to the line and get an easy basket. It was important to be in attack mode.''
Jasmine Thomas added 14 points and matched her career high with 11 rebounds while Kathleen Scheer had 13 points for Duke in the junior forward's first career start.
''It was a great, hard-fought battle,'' Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie said. ''I'm very pleased our team was able to take them out of the rhythm of their game because they're very, very good. I'm going to project them as the Mountain West winners this year. I liked our team's fight. Jasmine getting 11 rebounds and nine defensive, that talks to a certain alertness on the floor.
Mindy Bonham had 12 points to lead BYU, while Haley Hall chipped in eight points and seven rebounds.
BYU scored the first eight points capped by Bonham's 3-pointer from the right corner at 17:28.
Christmas then got Duke going, helping the Blue Devils to a 30-23 lead at the break.
''It was really wonderful for my team to see what program we want to head towards,'' BYU coach Jeff Judkins said. ''I'm proud of my team. I thought we came out and played really well and then we just wore down. Their depth and their quickness and just the physical way they play affected us down toward the end. We didn't shoot the ball very well, but you've got to give them credit for that. I thought they sped us up a little bit too fast, and that was why we wanted to play this game.''
Duke continued to pull away in the second half and saw its lead grow to 18 with 3:24 left on Thomas' free throw. The Blue Devils shot just 39 percent from the field and held BYU to just 28 percent shooting.
''It's been a while since we've seen a team that presses the way we do,'' Thomas said. ''It was a bit of a shock at first, but that's something we'll have to continue to get better at. Throughout the course of the game I think we'll get better at it.''
Point guard Chloe Wells started her first game as a freshman for Duke and finished with nine points and three steals.
