The women's basketball team had the chance to win it all, but the Blue Devils let that chance slip away.
Duke watched the tournament trophy slip from its grasp at the Dial Soap Classic in Norfolk, Va., this weekend. The Blue Devils (1-1) saw Old Dominion (2-0) come back from as much as a 10-point deficit in the second half to capture the championship on the Lady Monarchs' home floor on Sunday.
Duke defeated Montana on Saturday 89-49 to advance to face Old Dominion in the championship game.
The Blue Devils led for most of the game against ODU, but the Lady Monarchs took the lead with 3:46 to go in the second half. Duke was never able to get that advantage back.
"There was a definite difference in our team [from the previous game against Montana]," Duke head coach Gail Goestenkors said. "[ODU] came out ready to play -- there was a fire in their eyes. In the first game, we were the aggressor. In the second game, [Old Dominion] was the aggressor."
"We just weren't ready to play," senior forward Carey Kauffman said. "[The loss] hurts us. We didn't play half as well as we did [against Montana]."
The Blue Devils played a solid first half against Old Dominion -- shooting 14-of-29 from the field -- although the Duke lead was just one point at halftime. Duke kept that lead until late in the second half, when the Lady Monarchs regained the advantage for good.
"[Old Dominion] was very confident," Goestenkors said. "Nobody played well for us. We were tired, and it showed."
The Blue Devils shot a paltry 19 percent from the field in the second half -- a major reason for their struggles. And even though they made 67 percent of their free throws in the game, the Blue Devils threw the game away at the line during the last minutes of play.
Beginning with 1:13 left in the game, the Blue Devils missed the front end of one-and-ones four different times.
These missed chances leave Duke wondering what would have happened if those shots had fallen.
"You only have so many chances," Goestenkors said. "There was some doubt creeping in each time we missed those free throws. If you want to win, you have to be able to hit your free throws down the stretch.
"We should have won. It just slipped through our fingers. I think we'll use this as a learning experience for our team."
In the losing effort, three Blue Devils scored in double figures, with Kauffman leading the way with 15 points on 6-of-20 shooting. Junior Alison Day added 12, while sophomore forward Tyish Hall threw in another 11.
"We believed until the last second that we could win," Kauffman said. "We never stopped trying, but we just couldn't finish -- we didn't execute."
Duke's first opponent in the tournament was Montana. The Grizzlies were coming off an impressive 25-5 season last year which included a bid to the NCAA tournament.
Prior to the Duke matchup, the only loss Montana (3-2) had suffered was to 12th-ranked Vanderbilt.
However, the Blue Devils pummeled the Grizzlies into oblivion, with Duke storming past Montana by a 40-point margin. The Grizzlies shot only 27 percent from the field and could not contain the Blue Devils.
"Montana is a very good team, although they have had some injuries," Goestenkors said. "I think we took them by surprise."
Senior center Zeki Blanding came in off the bench for 20 minutes of play and was able to notch a game-high 23 points against the Grizzlies.
"Zeki could do no wrong," Goestenkors said. "I think that was her best performance since I've been here and probably the best all-around game she's had."
Blanding's efforts were aided by the outstanding play of Day and junior guard Jennifer Scanlon, who added 15 points and 12 points, respectively, for the Blue Devils.
"[Alison] and Jen both had good performances," Goestenkors said. "Everybody performed well. We had all of our players see double-digit playing time. The subs were ready to come in the game, and they were able to keep the intensity level up."
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