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Women's hoops trips Terps**
Sparked by tough defense, the women's basketball team staged a dramatic second-half comeback Friday night to surge past Atlantic Coast Conference rival Maryland in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Trailing by as many as 16 points in the first half, the Blue Devils won the game 62-60 on a last second running 15-footer by sophomore Jen Scanlon.
Duke, which improves to 16-7 (7-6 in the ACC), picked up a crucial game in its hunt for an NCAA Tournament berth.
"This was a huge step for us in the right direction," Duke head coach Gail Goestenkors said. "This is the big one."
Defensive pressure keyed the Duke rally, as the Blue Devils held Maryland to only 33 percent shooting in the second half. Bonnie Rimkus, the Terrapins' leading scorer, notched only two points on 1-of-6 shooting in the second half.
The key change was a switch from man-to-man defense to a matchup zone at halftime. The Duke zone collapsed on the Terrapins' inside threats, frustrating Maryland's offensive rhythm.
"I think it put more pressure on their inside players and forced them to take the outside shot," Scanlon said.
Offensively, the Duke rally began the moment the second half started, as the Blue Devils roared to within six points of Maryland with a 12-4 run. Maryland handled the pressure, pushing the lead back to 10 before another Duke run cut the lead to four with 14 minutes to play.
Duke senior Nicole Johnson, playing in her last home game as a Blue Devil, sparked the early second-half surge. Johnson scored 16 points for the game, including eight of Duke's first 16 points in the second half to keep Duke close.
But Maryland would not fold, as it again increased its lead to 11 points with eight minutes to play, relying mainly on the outside shooting of Lil Purvis and Karon Ferguson.
But Duke was not finished yet.
"No matter how much we're down, we never panic," Scanlon said.
Maryland, however, which had not fallen at Cameron since the 1987-88 season, seemed to lose its poise down the stretch.
Over the next three minutes, the Blue Devils scored eight consecutive points, the last bucket coming off a Kira Orr assist. Orr, a freshman point guard, stepped her game up over the last three minutes to give Duke the final lift it needed.
She dealt an assist to Tye Hall and drilled a baseline jumper to cut the lead to three with 2:48 remaining.
"She gave us the spark that we needed," Scanlon said.
Then, with 1:33 left in the game, Orr nailed two free throws to cut the lead to one at 59-58. After a Maryland turnover, Orr drove to the basket and scored the last of her eight points to give Duke its first lead of the game with 45 seconds remaining.
One Maryland free throw tied the game at 60-60, setting the stage for Scanlon's last second heroics. With time running down, Orr dished to Scanlon on the perimeter and the sophomore flicked up the game-winning shot from 15 feet away over the outstretched arms of a Maryland defender.
The raucous crowd of 600 erupted and a handful stormed the court in celebraton.
In the first half, though, Duke gave the Cameron crowd little to celebrate. Maryland jumped out to an eight point lead five minutes into the game and showed no signs of looking back. The Maryland duo of Rimkus and Monica Adams combined for 24 points, nearly all in the paint.
The Blue Devils' top two scorers, junior Carey Kauffman and Scanlon, combined for only eight first-half points, helping Duke to a poor 37 percent shooting mark.
Kauffman finished with eights points and a game-high 12 rebounds, while Scanlon finished with 16 points, including the dramatic game-winner.
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