KARA LAWSON

No. 9 Duke, No. 14 North Carolina and No. 22 North Carolina State are all making things tougher than usual in their part of the state.

Ian Cole beat Igor Shesterkin at 3:12 of overtime to help the Carolina Hurricanes beat the New York Rangers 2-1 to take Game 1 of their second-round playoff series.

Tennessee is back in the top 10 of the women’s AP Top 25 for the first time in nearly three years.

The Duke women's basketball team has ended its season amid the coronavirus pandemic, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)The Duke women's basketball team ended its season Friday amid the coronavirus pandemic. “The student-athletes on the Duke women’s basketball team have made the difficult decision to conclude their current season due to safety concerns,” said Michael Schoenfeld, Vice President for Public Affairs & Government Relations and Chief Communications Officer for Duke University. The women’s basketball team has been on pause since Dec. 16 because of two positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing within the program’s travel party. The Ivy League opted out of playing winter sports in November before the basketball season started.

Kara Lawson has always wanted to coach at Duke a fact the first-time college coach hadn't shared with many people. Thats how highly I thought of the institution and the job," Lawson said on an introductory Zoom call Monday. Mom was the one who wanted me to go to Duke, Lawson said. I wanted to become a coach and learn from the best and that led me to Knoxville, Lawson said. Lawson knows one of her first tasks will be to hire assistants.

Duke has turned to Boston Celtics assistant coach and former WNBA All-Star Kara Lawson to lead its womens basketball program. Lawson played in the WNBA from 2003-15 and won the 2005 championship with Sacramento. She had also worked as a TV commentator for NBA and college basketball games before the Celtics hired her in June 2019. Itll be up to Lawson to shake things up and give the Duke program a jolt. ___More AP womens basketball: https://apnews.com/Womenscollegebasketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25___Follow Aaron Beard on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/aaronbeardap