Over the last few years, the women's basketball team has become accustomed to playing ugly games at Florida State's Tully Gymnasium. Since the 1991-92 season, the Seminoles' first in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Blue Devils have lost three times and narrowly won once at Florida State. Duke's string of ugly contests in Tallahassee continued this weekend, but the heavily-favored Blue Devils finished the game with a 17-6 run to win 61-47.
"It was not a good game for us," head coach Gail Goestenkors said. "We weren't as focused as we needed to be."
Duke (17-3, 6-2 in the ACC) led for all but the game's first four minutes, but its lead was not secure until late in the contest. The Seminoles (5-13, 0-9 in the ACC) cut the Blue Devils' 31-24 halftime advantage to as little as three points with six minutes remaining, but Duke's game-ending rally sealed the outcome.
"We didn't play well early on," junior forward Tyish Hall said. "We came out sluggish but pulled it out at the end, which has become like our trademark."
Hall played a tremendous all-around game for the Blue Devils, accumulating 18 points, 12 rebounds, four steals and two blocks. In addition, Hall held the Seminoles' top performer, senior center Carla Williams, to seven points--12 below her league-leading average.
"Tye Hall played an exceptional game," Goestenkors said. "She did a very good job on Carla Williams. Williams is the ACC's leading scorer, so [the Seminoles] plan a lot of their offense around her."
Duke's offense struggled throughout the game, as the Blue Devils shot only 43 percent from the field and made just 1-of-9 three-point attempts. Although Duke scored well below its average of 79 points per game, its problems stemmed more from poor execution than from bad shot selection.
"We weren't finishing our shots," Goestenkors said. "We got good shots, we just didn't put them down. We generally didn't do a good job of attacking their defense."
The Blue Devils tried to overlook the problems they have traditionally encountered at Florida State but had trouble ignoring them completely. Team members cited several possible reasons for Duke's lack of success in Tallahassee but could confirm none as the primary culprit.
"I wish we could find out the what the secret is because it happens to us every year," Hall said. "Maybe it's the long trip we take to get down there, maybe it's the small gym--I really couldn't say for certain what it is."
Despite struggling at Tully Gymnasium, the Blue Devils have improved there, winning the last two years after having lost three straight at Florida State. Just as Duke has steadily increased its win total during each of Goestenkors' four seasons as head coach, it has consistently improved its play at Tully.
"Each year has gotten progressively better," Hall said. "It looks like maybe we're weaning ourselves away from having problems there."
In addition to fighting their unfortunate history at Florida State, the Blue Devils had to battle a potential letdown after their win Wednesday night at North Carolina. Although the Duke players kept themselves aware that they could endure a letdown, they barely considered the possibility.
"We only mentioned it once the entire trip," Hall said. "It wasn't in our minds. There have been a lot of upsets this year in the ACC and we didn't want it to happen to us."
Considering Duke's huge margin of victory in the teams' first meeting this season, a Florida State victory would have been an upset of epic proportions. The Blue Devils destroyed the Seminoles 92-30 on Dec. 6, 1995, in Durham, but according to Goestenkors, the Seminoles have picked up their level of play significantly since the Blue Devils' early-season romp.
"They're a lot better," Goestenkors said. "They've been through the wars, they've gained a lot of experience and they've lost close games to some of the best teams in the conference. They're not the same team we played in December."
The Blue Devils face a tough task in their next contest, a home game Wednesday at 7 p.m. against the Clemson Tigers. This weekend the Tigers propelled the Blue Devils into a tie for first place in the ACC by knocking off Virginia, and with Clemson perched only one half-game behind Duke and UVa in the league standings, Wednesday night's showdown should play a major role in determining the regular-season conference champion.
"Clemson is an exceptional team," Goestenkors said. "They're very deep--they have five players in double figures [in scoring average]. Our transition defense, quarter-court defense and rebounding will be very important for us."
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