The Duke women's basketball team gave itself a rousing send-off to the start of its regular season on Saturday with a come-from-behind victory over the Chinese National Team. A clutch three-pointer by senior guard Kira Orr with 32 seconds remaining gave the Blue Devils the lead for good, which they held on to by the slimmest of margins for a 94-93 win.
During a timeout called just before Orr's shot, Duke coach Gail Goestenkors diagrammed a triangle offense with center Payton Black down low, guard Hilary Howard on the wing and Orr at the top of the key. The play worked exactly as planned: Howard got the ball in to Black, then the Chinese players quickly double-teamed her and she passed out to Orr, who nailed the trey for a 94-91 Blue Devil advantage.
"I kept thinking, 'Okay, I'm going to make the shot,'" Orr said. "The whole time I'm standing over there, I'm thinking, 'I can make the shot, I'm wide open,' and luckily it went in."
China responded with a lay-in by Zheng Hai-xia to cut the Duke lead to one, then quickly fouled freshman forward Missy West and called a timeout with just over seven seconds left. West missed the front end of a one-and-one and the Chinese had one final chance to win the game but Wang Fang's lay-up attempt bounced off the front of the rim as the final buzzer sounded.
Coming into the contest, the big attraction was Hai-xia, China's 6-foot-8, 250 lb. center, a veteran of two Olympics. She didn't disappoint, scoring 42 points on 20-of-24 shooting. Yes, she's very, very tall, but Hai-xia did more than just reach over the Duke defenders and place the ball in the basket, displaying an impressive repertoire of post moves, including a hook shot and a couple of outside jumpers. Black, the Blue Devils' 6-foot-4 sophomore center who had the responsibility of guarding Hai-xia for much of the game, said she can't remember ever playing against an opponent taller than 6-foot-5.
"She gets the ball on the blocks and there's really no stopping her besides fouling her," Black said. "So what I had to keep in mind was to bump her early and really not let her get me on that block and let her get the ball."
But Black held her own on the floor, scoring 28 points to lead Duke on 11-of-19 shooting, and also added seven rebounds. Orr had 26 points, 20 of them in the second half, and seven assists while sophomore guard Howard contributed 19 points and six assists.
China burst out of the blocks, literally, to start the game, running whenever it had the opportunity off of Blue Devil turnovers and missed shots, and converting these fast breaks into several easy baskets. A Hai-xia jumper with 8:19 remaining in the first half gave China a 15 point lead, its largest of the game, at 33-18. Duke responded with a West three-pointer as it slowly started to claw back. Howard hit a trey with 1:05 to go, bringing the Blue Devils within six, the closest they had been since 13-8.
But Liang Xing, who put in 24 points for China, then found Hai-xia alone under the basket for a lay-up, extending the lead to 45-37. The teams exchanged scoreless possessions, and Duke had a chance to pull closer, getting the ball with 16 seconds remaining. But freshman forward Peppi Browne missed a jumper and West couldn't sink a three-pointer, as the Blue Devils went into the locker room trailing by eight.
Goestenkors said she was pleased her team was able to make adjustments over the course of the game to climb back into it.
"We picked the defensive intensity on their perimeter players, tried to force some more turnovers, so we could get out on the break some more," she said.
A Howard layup 1:29 into the second half pulled Duke within four, but the Blue Devils could get no closer for the next 13 minutes. With 5:19 left in the game, Orr converted both ends of a one-and-one to cut the deficit to three and force China to call a timeout. China went back up by five, but after a Black steal Orr sank two foul shots, then on Duke's next possession she made a lay-up on a pass from Howard. China got the ball back but Black stepped in front of a pass to Hai-xia, causing a turnover, and was fouled on her shot attempt at the other end of the floor.
Following a Chinese timeout, Black hit both free throws, giving the Blue Devils their first lead of the game, 86-85, with 2:28 to go. The teams traded baskets, and then Browne beat her defender off the dribble for a lay-in and a three point play, as Xing fouled out of the game. After calling a time-out China tied the game at 91-91, setting up Orr's heroics.
"I couldn't have asked for anything more," Goestenkors said, "than to play a great team that was really well rested. They really took it to us. For us to be in a situation where we had to make some adjustments, we had to come from behind, we had to show some poise in the last few minutes of the basketball game, we couldn't have asked for anything more."
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