Not the kind of news you want to be hearing on Christmas Day:Duke Women’s Basketball Team Cancels Remainder of 2020-21 Season

from www.goduke.com:

Women’s Basketball Cancels Remainder of 2020-21 Season

DURHAM, N.C. – The Duke women’s basketball program will not play the remainder of the 2020-21 season due to health and safety concerns stemming from COVID-19.

“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. “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.”

The Blue Devils had played four contests in first year head coach Kara Lawson’s Duke debut, before pausing basketball related activities on Dec. 16 due to COVID-19 positive cases and precautionary contact tracing measures among individuals within the travel party.