Business as usual.
That was the attitude of the women's basketball team as it traveled over to Appalachian State for its biggest game of the young season.
For the Blue Devils, everything did seem just like the usual. Duke came away with another big win, this one by the score of 79-66 in Boone, N.C., to improve to 5-0 on the season.
Once again, senior Missy Anderson had a great all-around game, putting in 11 points to go with five rebounds and six assists. Not losing a step after her selection onto the Duke Classic All-Tournament team, junior Zeki Blanding contributed 14 points and 6 rebounds.
And in what has quickly become a regular occurence, junior Carey Kauffman recorded a double-double. She lead the team with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
In addition to putting up good numbers offensively, Duke improved its act on the defensive side as it held Appalachian State to only seven offensive rebounds.
The goal of the game was to hold Mountaineer star Angela Crosby under her season-average of 28 points. Crosby had been shooting 75 percent from the field. The Blue Devils succeeded in this task, limiting Crosby to 20 points on 6-13 shooting.
This game was not just another contest to pad the Blue Devil record. Duke hit the court and showed that it was ready to play at a higher level against a good team.
"This was a great test for us," said head coach Gail Goenstenkors. "Appalachian State had beaten Wake Forest by 20 points and Arizona State by 10, so we showed we would beat a team who had won against PAC-10 and fellow [Atlantic Coast Conference] competition."
It took Duke a few minutes to remember that it had traveled all the way across the state for a basketball game. Appalachian State came out of the gates quickly as the Mountaineers scored the first six points of the game, forcing the Blue Devils to look at what they were doing. Duke responded well with its bench play, showing that it is a team prepared for any type of contest, home or on the road.
"This year we can possibly go up to ten deep, depending on the situation," Goenstenkors said. "Also, in each different situation we could use a different ten players."
This was evident in the play of freshmen Ty Hall who was this game's star off the bench with nine points.
Duke attempts to run its record to 6-0 this weekend with a game against McNesse State in Cameron Indoor Stadium before entering the California Berkeley Tournament over the winter break.
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