Duke becoming queen of the court
Carmichaels head girls basketball coach Jim Lane had one of the tallest tasks in the WPIAL this past offseason. The veteran head man had to find some way to make up for the loss of one of the school’s all-time greatest players in center Megan Stuvek. Apparently, Lane has succeeded in that task as several of his young players have stepped up to fill the void. Players like Beth May, Shayleigh Busti and Stuvek’s younger sister Molly have certainly done their part in leading the Mikes to an 8-9 overall mark and second place in Section 2-A with a 4-1 record.
However, with all due respect to the efforts of her teammates, junior Jordan Duke has emerged as a leader and major scoring threat for the Mikes. Duke made that point rather firmly this past week as she averaged more than 16 points during a four-game stretch in which her team went 3-1.
For her recent body of work, Duke is this week’s Greene County Messenger Winter Athlete of the Week.
Back on Jan. 9, the Mikes put up a good fight against a very good AA team in Beth-Center. Though they came up short in the end, dropping a 47-36 contest, Duke did all she could to pull out a win as she poured in a team-best 19 points.
With Molly Stuvek starring in a Section 2-A showdown with West Greene – the sophomore center posted a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds – Duke chipped in nine points on the night in a 49-46 victory.
Four days later, Duke put together her best performance of the stretch with 22 points in a hard-fought non-section victory over Chartiers-Houston. Most recently, in a Jan. 15 win over Frazier, Duke again paced the Mikes, this time with 15 points in a 39-30 win over the Commodores.