Greensboro, N.C.—Turnovers can be a team’s downfall, and they nearly were the Blue Devils’ Saturday in the ACC tournament semifinals.
After narrowly escaping N.C. State Friday, top-seeded Duke (29-2, 17-1 in the ACC) edged out No. 4 Florida State (22-9, 11-7) in 72-66 victory in what became another close call for the Blue Devils.
Despite starting the game on a 9-0 run and outrebounding the Seminoles 28-10 in the first half, Duke’s sloppy ball control gave Florida State a chance to snatch a trip to the ACC championship away from the Blue Devils.
Duke turned the ball over 17 times in the game and forced just 12 giveaways from Florida State. But Florida State never led in the game even after fighting back to tie the game twice in the second half.
The difference for the Blue Devils came from making plays when it counted most.
“I just liked how we battled. We started very aggressively,” head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “We went through the game, probably some hiccups along the way, but I thought our poise was outstanding and I thought our execution down the stretch was very good.”
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Forward Haley Peters and guard Tricia Liston led Duke with 17 points each in the contest. Liston, who broke the Duke single-season record for 3-pointers during the game, hit a crucial three after Florida State tied the game at 55-55 with 5:18 left in the second half. Liston’s shot ignited the Blue Devil offense down the stretch.
“My teammates do a great job of driving and causing a lot of attention and so the kick-out especially from [Alexis Jones] was wide open. It just came down to knocking down the shots,” Liston said.
Peters, who managed just five points against N.C. State, came out firing in the first half, scoring 11 of her 17 points in the game’s first 20 minutes. She was a presence in the paint grabbing 13 rebounds despite being matched up with Florida State’s Natasha Howard—who finished with 13 points—for the majority of the game.
“I just don’t worry about what’s gone on in the past few games. We got the opportunity to play today, and we earned the chance to play again today,” Peters said. “What happened in the past isn’t really on my mind at all because I know what I can do on the floor, and I know the shots I can make and what I can do for my team.”
The intensity on the court was high in the second half as the Seminoles threatened to take the lead from Duke multiple times, but the Blue Devils consistently mounted responses to maintain the lead. Duke was resilient fighting for loose balls and rebounds as well as grinding out points in the paint.
The Blue Devils had double-figure contributions form four starters, including guard Alexis Jones, who has quickly undertaken the reins of the team’s offense. Jones dished out seven assists and scored 12 points in the game.
Despite allowing 17 points to Seminole forward Chelsea Davis, center Elizabeth Williams was a factor on both ends of floor in the paint with three blocks as well as 11 points. With her three blocks, Williams tied the ACC record for consecutive games with a block at 64.
The bench did not produce many points, but junior guard Chloe Wells brought defensive effort and efficient ball movement to the game with four assists, two steals and a block during 17 minutes of action.
“Directing traffic and then the intangibles of playing great defense, deflections and steals— [Wells] has a lot of confidence, and she had energy,” McCallie said. “She came off the bench and absolutely gave us a huge lift.”
Florida State managed just 37.9 percent shooting as a team, as its most efficient shooter, Leonor Rodriguez was held to five points on 1-of-14 shooting in the game.
Duke’s turnovers and Florida State’s inside presence allowed the Seminoles to compensate for poor shooting performances from its wing players.
"They hit shots and we didn’t,” Seminole head coach Sue Semrau said. “I thought we had great looks, and I thought they had great looks and sometimes that happens against a good team like Duke. You have to have the luck or the balance as well as everything else. It was just one of those games.”
Duke will face either North Carolina or Maryland in the championship game of the ACC tournament at 2 p.m. Sunday.
After competing in two close games, McCallie expects that her team will need to resolve its issues in distribution and ball control to make a deep postseason run without injured guard Chelsea Gray in the lineup.
“The issue of blending together, that’s a finer science in the game of basketball. We want to get our assists up,” McCallie said. “Our turnovers need to go down. We’re rebounding the ball better than we have all year. If we can keep that going and build the assists, we’re going to be in very good shape. Hopefully that is something we can do tomorrow.”
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