FILE – General view of Cameron Indoor Stadium. Grant Halverson/Getty Images/AFP
The Duke women’s basketball program decided to end its 2020-21 season due to COVID-19 concerns.
In a statement issued Friday, Duke chief communications officer Michael Schoenfeld said, “The student-athletes on the Duke women’s basketball team have made the difficult decision to conclude their current season due to safety concerns. We support their decision, as we have supported the choices made by all student-athletes at Duke during this unprecedented time.
“Duke will maintain our current schedule of competition in other sports and will continue to observe our rigorous health and safety protocols, which include daily testing for all student-athletes and are based on guidance from leading medical experts.”
Under first-year head coach Kara Lawson, the Blue Devils (3-1) have been on pause since Dec. 16 due to two positive coronavirus tests within the team’s traveling party.
Duke postponed or canceled games this month against Miami, North Carolina State and UNC Wilmington. The next scheduled game was Dec. 31 against No. 2 Louisville.
Duke is the first Power Five school to have started this season and later decided not to finish it. The Ivy League and a few other programs opted not to play this year amid the pandemic.