After the No. 12 women's basketball team defeated North Carolina 86-85 on a last-second shot Wednesday, many people affiliated with the game were making comparisons to a 1994-95 UNC-Duke contest. Both were filled with high amounts of emotion. Both were won by Duke in the waning seconds.
With a little time to reflect on the game, Duke head coach Gail Goestenkors wasn't thinking about how Wednesday's game was similar to last year's. She was pondering how the win at UNC's Carmichael's Auditorium--just Duke's second win in its last 18 Chapel Hill contests--made the 1995-96 season different from its predecessor.
"This is the first thing we have done differently than last year," Goestenkors said. "Last year, we lost to Virginia at home. Last year, we lost to State at State. Last year, we lost to Carolina at Carolina. As far as the coaching staff goes, this is a very positive step--one thing we have done better than last year."
Coming into this season, Goestenkors and her two seniors, center Alison Day and guard Jennifer Scanlon, had never won at Chapel Hill, Raleigh or Charlottesville. The trio lost their chance to beat N.C. State on the road earlier in the year, when the Blue Devils fell to the Wolfpack 75-73. Goestenkors said Day and Scanlon were particularly motivated by their 0-3 record at UNC and the fact they had already blown their opportunity to defeat N.C. State on the road.
They weren't going to let the same thing happen again. And now, with a win at UNC, the Blue Devils should begin gaining the respect their No. 12 national ranking deserves.
"People say we are not really all [we are] because we haven't beaten Virginia at Virginia," Day said. "We haven't won at the tough places. We are all right at home but we haven't won the big, big games. So it's nice to have a win at Carmichael under our belts."
Day knows a little bit about beating UNC on a last-second shot. It was her jump shot with time winding down that provided the two points needed for the Blue Devils to upset UNC 74-72 on Jan. 25, 1995. She said the one obvious difference in the two wins was the locale--at Chapel Hill 5,000 fans didn't storm the court after the Blue Devils won. The other difference was last year Duke's win was a major upset. This year, if the unranked Tar Heels had won, then they would have pulled off the big upset.
"Because we were `supposed' to beat them just because we were ranked 12th in the nation and they were unranked, it was a relief that we actually won the game," Day said. "It was such a good game. It's just nice to see women's basketball have a lot of games like that every year--really competitive games that are exciting for everyone involved."
Goestenkors said Wednesday night's game was also the first time this season the Blue Devils responded in a positive matter to a more physical, aggressive team. They knew with players like 6-foot freshman Chanel Wright and 5-foot-11 Tracy Reid, the Tar Heels were going to be banging on the inside.
"We were going to find out how tough we were, both mentally and physically," Goestenkors said. "I think for the first time we responded to the physical play. Early on, we were standing around. But then we adjusted, and that's something in years past we haven't done a good job of. I think that was a very positive step for us."
Most of all, Wednesday night's win gave the Blue Devils confidence they could win the close contests. Day said amid the jubilation in the locker room after the game, many players were simply excited Duke had pulled out the win in the final seconds, something it hadn't done against UVa or N.C. State. In years past, the team had been able to pull out those close victories. Wednesday's win reaffirmed that the magic hadn't left the Blue Devils.
"I think it was good for us to know that, yeah, we can win in the final seconds, that we are going to be able to pull out," Day said. "Just the fact that we won the game gives you so much confidence--confidence in a different way--that we haven't had the whole season.
"For us to play a really good team, in a hard place to play and to come out with a win gives us a lot of confidence about where we're going and that our goals are not that far away."
One of those goals was formed after the team's Jan. 8 loss to Virginia, which dropped Duke to 1-2 in the ACC. Goestenkors said she discussed with the team what it thought it was capable of achieving the rest of the year. Among the suggestions was to go 13-0 in the conference the rest of the season. Day said afterwards the three games that stuck out in her mind as roadblocks to achieving that goal were the Clemson game on the road, the UVa game on the road and the Carolina game on the road.
"To get one of those out of the way feels really good and just gives us the boost of confidence that we will be able to come away with a win at Virginia or at Clemson," Day said.
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