For the first time this season, the No. 14 women's basketball team suffered back-to-back losses as it was upset by the Maryland Terrapins 63-52. The loss pushed the Blue Devils into fourth place in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a 7-4 ACC record, 18-5 overall. The 52 points was Duke's lowest point total of the year, breaking the 57 points it scored in its first contest against Maryland this year.
The mark in the loss column wasn't the only bad news for the Blue Devils. Freshman point guard Hilary Howard broke her toe and was unavailable for action Monday night, while junior guard Windsor Coggeshall also did not play due to a nagging back injury. During practice, Coggeshall heard a loud pop in her back, and she spent most of the game in her warmups lying on her stomach along the baseline.
With its best three-point shooter and back-up point guard unavailable for action, Duke had problems scoring, something that had never been a problem until Monday night.
For the first eight minutes of the game, both teams had little in the way of offense, as the game was tied at 8-8 with 11:56 left in the game. At that point, Duke stopped playing defense, and the Terrapins went on a 12-0 run.
The Blue Devils were unable to recover from that stretch. With little scoring punch in the first half, Duke allowed Maryland to take a 35-18 advantage into the locker room at halftime. The 18 points marked Duke's lowest point total for a half for the entire season.
The biggest problem on the night for the Blue Devils was their inability to get the ball inside. Senior center Alison Day, who was averaging 13 points going into Monday's contest, was held scoreless in the first half. Junior forward Tyish Hall led Duke in scoring in the first half with eight points, but she only had six shots. Also, by going inside, Duke often draws opponents' fouls which lead to free-throw attempts. Averaging nearly 16 attempts per game, Duke had zero in the first 20 minutes.
While Duke was unable to get its inside game started, its outside game was even worse. The Blue Devils did not make one of their eight attempted three-pointers in the first half.
In recent conference games, Duke has often struggled in the first half, but bounced with a strong second stanza. Duke head coach Gail Goestenkors was probably reminding her team of that fact in the locker room before the start of the final 20 minutes.
Unfortunately, Duke didn't get out to a fast start. Maryland went on a quick 6-0 run, and Goestenkors called a time out with nearly 17 minutes left in the game and her team down by 23.
Still, the Blue Devils weren't finished yet. Duke went on a 10-4 run after the time out to cut the lead to 17. A Sonia Chase basket for Maryland upped its lead to 47-28, but that's when the Blue Devils picked up their defense. The Terrapins did not score for another eight minutes.
Despite not scoring for eight minutes, the Maryland lead never fell below 11. The Blue Devils blew numerous opportunities in the second half during that stretch, scoring only eight points in those eight minutes.
Turnovers plagued Duke, as time and again a great play was wiped out by a mental mistake. For example, with nearly 11 minutes left in the game, and the Duke deficit down to 17, junior Kira Orr stole an errant Terrapin pass. Yet, as she went to take the ball upcourt, she accidentally stepped on the baseline, giving the ball back to Maryland.
That play symbolized the way Duke's luck went all night. The Blue Devils committed 28 turnovers on the night, the most they have had in a game all year.
Duke fought back to trail by 11 with just over two minutes to go on a Hall layup, her first points of the second half. They turned out to be her only points of the half, as she fouled out on the next play. She finished the game with 10 total points and 7 rebounds.
Hall was only one of three Duke players to reach double figures. Orr, the native from Poolesville, Md., scored 11 points in front of her home crowd. Orr also tallied five assists to work her way into the Duke record book as the Duke's single-season assist leader. Leading the Blue Devils in scoring was senior Jennifer Scanlon, who poured in 13 points on the night.
With the loss, Duke fell from from the driver's seat on the road to the conference title. It now stands in the middle of the pack. And things won't get much better for the Blue Devils as they face a feisty Wake Forest team at home on Thursday, and then travel to Virginia next Saturday.
Depending on how long Howard and Coggeshall are out, Duke may have to remember how to play without a deep bench, a talent they perfected early on in the year.
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