Several records were broken when the 12th-ranked women's basketball team took down North Carolina, 61-56, in Cameron Indoor Stadium on Friday.
The 23rd victory for the Blue Devils this season marked a school record for wins in a season, while the 12th conference win also set a Duke record for most Atlantic Coast Conference victories in a season. Even still, the second-place ACC finish is the highest that the Blue Devils have ever finished in the league.
Amidst all this history in the making was a record of a different sort, though. School officials estimated the crowd which attended the game numbered around 6,500 people-over two-thirds of capacity in Cameron. Granted, there were many fans from Chapel Hill in the audience, but for a large part of the evening, the crowd support was overwhelmingly in the Blue Devils' favor.
"When you hear the crowd and it's that loud in there, it's something that we're not used to," junior guard Kira Orr said. "Each good play it got louder and louder, and that lifted us and lifted our intensity some. It makes you want to work even harder to make that stop or get that crucial basket. They were a great help.
"I wish they would come out like this every time."
In a game that was typical of the Duke-Carolina rivalry, the Blue Devils used that lift from the crowd to battle back from as much as a 13-point deficit in the second half. The Tar Heels still held a dozen-point lead at the 11:48 mark.
Over the next five minutes, Duke engineered a 14-0 run, aided by the commotion so common in Cameron when the men's team is playing.
"For the first time ever, it was like we were at a men's game," senior center Alison Day said. "That was a great feeling."
And while the women's team has yet to achieve any national championship banners to adorn the Stadium as the men's team has, the Blue Devils are well on their way. In just four years, head coach Gail Goestenkors has brought the team from the cellar of the ACC to a historic second- place finish.
"It feels so nice because we have accomplished so much in our four years," Day said. "Our first year we were 3-13 in the ACC-dead last. To go down to the ACC Tournament, play in the play-in game, and lose in the play-in game... It was a hard year. To go from last place to second place in four years is incredible. It says so much about our coaching staff and the people we have recruited... I think it's a sign of great things to come for Duke basketball."
Not only has the team elevated itself over the course of the last few years, the Blue Devils also fought through a slump earlier this season-including a shocking loss to Maryland in College Park-to maintain its second-place finish. Almost immediately after Duke fell to the Terrapins, though, the team decided it would come out fighting, taking a big victory from Wake Forest and, two days later, the Blue Devils defeated Virginia on its home floor for the first time in the history of the series on Feb. 10. Duke has not lost a game since the defeat on Feb. 5 at Maryland.
"We've had a complete turnaround from my standpoint," Day said. "After that Maryland game it was rock bottom and either don't come up or come back fighting... Even though we were down by 13 [against North Carolina], I knew we would come back and make a run and win the game. It's a good feeling to have a lot of confidence in your team."
Finally, it looks as if the women's team can actually have the crowd support it deserves. As a team which has been ranked in the top 20 all season long, the Blue Devils have only drawn an average of 800 fans per game. Some schools in the area even charge for attendance to women's games, and still draw more than Duke. The players enjoyed the crowd on Friday evening, and although Day and fellow senior Jennifer Scanlon will never play another regular-season game in Cameron, the rest of the team will hopefully enjoy larger crowds in the years to come.
"I like to play in front of a crowd," junior guard Kira Orr said. "I always say I don't mind going to a different school because they usually have a bigger crowd. I just like to play in front of people. The noise lifted our play a little more. Everyone wanted to get on the floor more, get a steal or get a rebound."
Although Friday marked the last regular-season game for the Blue Devils in Cameron, there is still a chance that Duke will return to their home court for the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Unlike the men's tournament, the women's NCAAs allow the top four teams in each of the regional brackets to host the first and second rounds. Unless something drastic happens in Rock Hill, S.C., at the women's ACCs, the Blue Devils are likely to return to Cameron for their first and second games.
It is unfortunate for Duke, however, that most students will still be out of town for spring break on March 13 or 14, the opening day of the NCAA Tournament. Yet if the games are in Cameron, it would be even more of a shame if there was a poor showing. There are only 16 teams which receive home-court advantage in the NCAAs. If the team can achieve that feat, let's make sure the home-court advantage is worth it.
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