Despite miracle shot, women's hoops falls to Clemson

This time, a clutch shot from Alison Day wasn't quite enough for the women's basketball team.

Duke's junior center, who hit a last-second game-winning shot against North Carolina earlier this season, banked in a 24-foot three-pointer at the buzzer of regulation against Clemson on Monday night. But Day's shot was soon overshadowed by the play of Tiger center Jaci Stimson and forward Laura Cottrell.

Stimson, a sophomore who averages 6.0 points a game, scored nine of her career-high 25 points in overtime, as Clemson (19-7, 9-5 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) knocked off the 19th-ranked Blue Devils (19-6, 10-5), 88-82 before 1,800 fans in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

But it was the play of the sophomore Cottrell which sealed the victory for the Tigers. Cottrell, who played the game despite having a stress fracture in her leg, took two charges late in the contest to prevent the Blue Devils from having chances to convert a pair of three-point plays.

"No player on this basketball team could have ever made two bigger plays than Laura Cottrell did," Clemson head coach Jim Davis said.

On the first of these plays, Duke sophomore point guard Kira Orr drove to the basket with 1:01 remaining in regulation and Clemson ahead 70-65. Orr layed the ball in the hoop and appeared to be fouled. But she was whistled for a charge, her fourth personal foul of the game.

Then, 50 seconds into overtime, junior guard Jennifer Scanlon drove past three Tiger defenders for an apparent basket, but she too was called for a charge. Cottrell came back after the charge to hit a jump shot on the ensuing possession to give Clemson a 77-73 lead.

"I really didn't think either of them were charges," Scanlon said.

The Blue Devils trailed 29-17 with 4:22 remaining in the first half. But sophomore Windsor Coggeshall, who finished with 11 points, keyed a 12-2 Duke run to end the half. Coggeshall hit a three-pointer to start Duke's run, and she scored eight of Duke's last 12 points of the half.

Coggeshall and sophomore Shaeeta Brown--who played 26 minutes--sparked the Blue Devil rally in the first half with their tenacious defense.

"They did a great job," Goestenkors said. "They caused some problems for their point guard in particular. They really lifted us up in the first half."

Duke's second comeback came in the final minute of regulation. Orr committed her fifth foul with 44 seconds left on the clock, and Clemson senior Tara Saunooke hit both of her free throws to give the Tigers a 72-65 lead.

But Saunooke came right back and committed her fifth foul to put Scanlon on the line. Scanlon answered Saunooke's free throws with a pair of her own. Duke got the ball right back after a quick foul and a missed free throw. Day then stepped up and nailed a three-pointer to pull the Blue Devils to within two points.

Another Duke foul put freshman Jennifer Davis on the foul line. Davis hit the front end of a one-and-one opportunity, but missed the second to put Clemson ahead by a 73-70 margin with 14 seconds remaining.

After a Duke timeout, senior point guard Susan Brandau found Coggeshall on the wing for a three-pointer. Her shot rattled out, and it appeared that Clemson would hold on for the victory. But sophomore Tye Hall, who led Duke with 13 rebounds, hustled to force a jump ball with two seconds left--and the possession arrow pointing toward Duke's basket.

And then Day banked in her three pointer, leading to Bobby Hurley-esque bows and screams of "Aliiiii! Aliiiii!" from the crowd.

Day scored 20 of her game-high 26 points in the second half. She was 3-for-3 from behind the three-point arc and played 41 out of a possible 45 minutes.

In fact, Scanlon and Day were virtually unstoppable for most of the second half. Scanlon, who was also 3-for-3 on three-pointers, scored 15 of her 17 points after intermission.

Duke's last-minute rally gave the team a renewed sense of confidence going into the extra period.

"We were down by a good amount with less than a minute to go," Day said. "To be able to come back and tie it with two seconds left definitely gives us the momentum. I felt like everyone was pumped up to play and that we would go out there and take the game."

But Stimson stifled Duke's energy by hitting three jump shots in the overtime to give Clemson an 85-79 lead. She then put the nail in Duke's coffin by converting three of her four free throws in the last 25 seconds to secure the Tigers' season sweep of the Blue Devils.

"I just tried to have confidence in myself," Stimson said. "I knew I could do it. It's just free throws."

While Clemson played well and converted its opportunities, Duke made more than its share of mistakes. The Blue Devils committed 20 turnovers in the contest, and they were outrebounded 24-16 in the first half.

"We're looking to push the ball a little bit more than we have in the past," Goestenkors said. "I think you're going to get a few more turnovers when you run the fast break a little bit more. We're still adjusting to people double-teaming Ali [Day] and looking to find the open player.

"We didn't make our easy shots. You can't go 13-23 from the free throw line at home and expect to win."

But perhaps the worst of Duke's deficiencies was on the other end of the court.

"Our defense was atrocious," Day said.

One surprise for the Blue Devils was that senior Carey Kauffman saw less action than usual. Kauffman, who scored nine points and had just three rebounds, sat on the bench for much of the second half after missing a wide-open layup at the start of half.

"Carey didn't look comfortable out there," Goestenkors said. "She wasn't really in the flow. We felt like we needed help out on the boards because we had been outrebounded so badly in the first half. Tye [Hall] was doing the job. We went with the people who could get the job done for us."