Basketball teams up 19 points at halftime don't usually have problems maintaining such a lead. All they need to do is to keep their opponents in check.
But the women's basketball team had that problem versus Georgia Tech on Saturday afternoon in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The Blue Devils almost lost a huge lead in the second half. They led by as many as 24 points in the first half, and it took a 19-point lead into the locker room. The pesky Yellow Jackets, however, just wouldn't go away. Duke survived a scare in the closing minutes to snatch a victory from Georgia Tech, 77-68. No. 22 Duke improved to 19-5 (10-4 Atlantic Coast Conference), while the Yellow Jackets fell to 12-14 (4-10 ACC).
"The bottom line is that we won," Duke head coach Gail Goestenkors said. "Down the stretch, when it got real tight, we did what we had to do to win. We shouldn't have been in that situation, though."
The Blue Devils were unable to avoid getting into that sit-uation, though. The Yellow Jackets dominated Duke defensively for much of the second half. They outscored the Blue Devils 43-33 in the last 20 minutes of the game, and Duke had constant scoring droughts throughout the half.
"We put in a new defense at halftime," Georgia Tech head coach Agnus Berenato said. "We kind of felt out of it so we tried something different. We really believed we could win the game. Duke probably never had any thought that we could come back."
That overlooking of the Yellow Jackets in the second half almost led to Duke's demise. The Blue Devils seemed lifeless after halftime.
"I think we were a little too complacent with how we were playing," junior center Alison Day said of Duke's problems in the second half. "After the first half we thought, `Wow, we're doing great.' We just got a little bit too cocky and confident. I like the way we were able to hold them off, but nobody is happy with the way we played in the second half."
After the intermission, the Yellow Jackets came out with a vengeance. Duke only scored two points in the opening six minutes of the half, while Tech tried to close in on the Blue Devil lead. Georgia Tech made a 14-4 run, cutting Duke's lead to six by the 4:47 mark.
After a jumper by sophomore guard Kira Orr with 59 seconds remaining--which was quickly followed by a foul and two missed free throws by Georgia Tech sophomore star Kisha Ford--the Blue Devils were up by seven with 52 seconds left. Duke sealed the victory and left Tech in a desperate fouling spree as the clock wound down.
The Blue Devils spent the first half in a shooting and rebounding bonanza. Junior guard Jennifer Scanlon nailed a three-pointer at the 15:13 mark to give Duke its second lead of the game, and Duke was able to maintain this lead through the rest of the contest. After Scanlon's jumper, Duke controlled the tempo of the game, and the Yellow Jackets just followed on its heels.
The Blue Devils engineered a 20-4 run in the latter part of the first half, which seemed to knock the buzz out of the Yellow Jackets as the half neared its close. Duke dominated Tech on the boards 27-14 in the opening stanza, led by sophomore Tyish Hall's eight rebounds. Hall accumulated 13 boards on the game while also chipping in 15 points.
"In practice she plays like this all the time," Goestenkors said. "Nobody can box her out in practice. She's just a tremendous offensive rebounder. People are doubling on [Day] a lot now, and it's opening things up for [Hall]. She is now taking advantage of it. She's a lot more comfortable now."
"I was just really excited and ready to play this game," Hall said. "I knew we needed to win. I've been going after the ball, trying to rebound."
Even Georgia Tech's coach was quick to point out the force that Hall creates for this Duke team.
"[Hall] rounds out their team," Berenato said. "We don't overlook her, but we can't afford to overlook anybody. She is very, very strong. She crashes--I mean literally crashes the board. She does her job well."
Hall's rebounding and scoring effort was aided by Day's 17 points. All the Blue Devil starters scored in double figures.
Tech's scoring was less spread out, as only two Yellow Jacket starters notched double figures. Senior Christine Finney lit up the scoreboard on 5-of-9 shooting, all of which were three-pointers. Ford knocked in 10 field goals to pace the Georgia Tech scorers.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.