The Chronicle (article linked above) highlights the impact and importance of Mikayla Boykin:
Yet when asked about her almost singlehandedly preventing Duke from another defeat and giving the team an opportunity to win in overtime, this is what Mikayla had to say:With seven minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Blue Devils found themselves on the verge of another close-encounter loss, trailing by nine points. In her fourth game back from a year-long injury, redshirt freshman Mikayla Boykin single-handedly took over Duke’s offense in the dwindling minutes of the regulation.
Boykin first hit a mid-range jumper off a pretty crossover, then followed up with another mid-range shot off a hesitation move. By the time she made her third bucket in a row with a spectacular half-spin jumper, the Hokie lead had been cut to only one. In the final 30 seconds of the game when the Blue Devils (8-8, 2-3 in the ACC) desperately needed a basket to tie the game up, it was Boykin who penetrated the packed defense, carefully drawing the defenders towards her before dishing out a perfect dime to Leaonna Odom for a crucial lay-up that forced the game into overtime.
So thrilled for Mikayla to be not just be able to return to the court, but to show flashes of greatness that made her a top-twenty recruiting in high school.“Thanks to Haley [Gorecki],” Boykin said when asked about her elite performance. “Haley was being guarded really tight, so it was opening [the court] up a lot for other players. I just stepped up and tried to hit big shots, but thanks to my teammates, it was kind of open for me. [I focused on] making the right play down the stretch.”
And it says a lot about her that she gives credits to her teammates for her performance.