The women's basketball team learned a valuable lesson in Monday's loss at Maryland-if you're going to play badly, don't do it on the longest bus ride of the year. The No. 14 Blue Devils played their worst game of the year Monday in a 63-52 loss to the unr
anked Terrapins. And senior center Alison Day said the nearly five-hour ride home was no picnic. The team watched the tape from Monday's fiasco, and got to see again just how badly it played.
Watching Monday's tape wasn't the only painful experience for some of the Blue Devils. Junior forward Windsor Coggeshall reinjured her back during practice, didn't play in Monday's game and is now doubtful for the rest of the season. Freshman Hilary Howar
d broke her toe and her classmate Nazrawit Medhanie injured a tendon in her finger. With so many negatives, Day considered the Maryland game and its results the low point of the season.
During the next two days, the team knew something different had to be done in order to salvage the rest of the season. Instead of focusing on Wake Forest, their upcoming opponent, the Blue Devils had to look in the mirror and re-evaluate their play.
"After the Maryland game, we were focusing on taking care of ourselves," junior Kira Orr said. "People had some things to take care of individually, and as a team we had to get together and play our game."
Playing Duke basketball means a lot of tough defense, a lot of transition and a lot of heart. In past games, the Duke players have not exhibited all of these characteristics. Never had the Blue Devils brought all three together like they did Wednesday nig
ht. Duke opened the game with a full court press, a risk some coaches would not take with a depleted bench. Goestenkors wanted to use the team's strengths, and with Medhanie in the lineup, that meant applying a tough defense.
The plan worked, as Duke jumped out to a 30-12 lead midway through the first half. Goestenkors said her team needed a boost early in the game to regain its confidence, and it was obvious the stellar defense did just that.
Symbolically, the play of Medhanie and Howard represented the team's overall toughness. Both players were doubtful before the game began, but with only nine players available for action-seven of whom have seen significant playing time this year-their pres
ence was a must.
"Both Naz and I have injuries that are painful but that we can play through," Howard said. "It's a little pain, but it's really not that bad. We knew we would have to play and we just wanted to try to give the team a lift."
Howard went on to play what may have been her best game of the year, scoring 12 points in 27 minutes without committing a single turnover. Day probably summed up Howard's performance at the end of the press conference by confidently saying, 'She's tough!'
in response to a question to Howard on how she handled the pain.
Medhanie's contribution came on the defensive end. She hounded Wake Forest point guard Gretchen Hollifield, limiting her to only four points and three assists. The senior entered the game ranked first in the ACC and ninth in the nation in assists per game
. Wake Forest head coach Karen Freeman said Medhanie was a very disruptive force on defense, causing problems in everything the Demon Deacons wanted to accomplish.
Goestenkors praised many of the team's individual efforts, but it was the overall team effort which impressed her most. This team effort really showed early in the second half. The Demon Deacons had fought back from a 21-point deficit to 10 with 16:55 lef
t in the game. In the past, the Blue Devils have been prone to losing the big lead, turning blowout games into close contests. Freeman even said halftime might be the break the Demon Deacons needed to upset the Blue Devils' concentration. But instead, Duk
e maintained its poise.
Orr said right after the game she was most pleased with the team's ability to play a full 40-minute game. That's a skill the Blue Devils will need the rest of the season in order to get back into the ACC race. The other thing Duke will have to do for the
rest of the year is play aggressively. Goestenkors said the pressure defense at the opening of the game was just a glimpse of how hard the Blue Devils needed to play Wednesday night. They never let up for the rest of the game.
"We came out fighting, and that's exactly what you saw out there on the floor," Goestenkors said. "We were attacking, whether we were on offense or on defense or rebounding-no matter what we were doing we were attacking the basketball. That's the type of
team I want to have and that's the type of game we have to play."
The Maryland game is now just a memory for the Blue Devils. But it's one Duke doesn't want to forget. Day said she considered the Wake Forest game the beginning of a new season, one filled with passion, aggression and heart.
"I feel like this is a new season for us, these last four regular season games, the ACC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament," Day said.
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