Kira who?
Entering the season, most skeptics questioned whether the women's basketball team had enough to overcome the departure of guard Kira Orr, Duke's all-time assist leader and the heart of last year's squad. On Saturday, Orr's replacement, junior Nicole Erickson gave a performance that answered the critics with a resounding 'yes!'
The transfer from Purdue drilled all six of her tries from behind the three-point line to help the Blue Devils to a 80-62 victory over 1997 Final Four participant Notre Dame.
The last time Erickson saw the Fighting Irish, she was trudging off the court with her Purdue teammates after Notre Dame had sent them packing with a 73-60 win in the first round of the 1996 NCAA tournament. Apparently, she still remembers that loss very well, as she began the game with a vengeance, scoring Duke's first six points on two three pointers.
"She was somebody we came into the game keying on, knowing she could shoot, and knowing she could beat us, and determined to not let that happen," Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said.
What did happen was the Blue Devils passing the ball around well against a predominantly zone defense, and finding open players on the perimeter as well as inside. The Blue Devils had assists on 17 of their 27 field goals, and five of Erickson's threes.
"With Hilary [Howard], and Georgia [Schweitzer], they both are great passers," Erickson said. "They did a great job penetrating the gaps. We also had people setting screens. They just did a great job getting the ball to the right person."
On a night where seemingly everything that left her hand found the bottom of the net, Erickson became 'the right person.'" In the process, Erickson nudged her way into the Duke record books in just her second game as a Blue Devil, breaking the single-game record for three-point accuracy and tying Orr's mark for most threes in a game.
Beyond the mere number of threes Erickson hit, the timing of the six triples could not have been better. Notre Dame went on an 11-3 run in the opening minutes of the second half to trim Duke's lead to five before Erickson drained her fourth three on a pass from Lauren Rice to curtail the run.
Five minutes later, Erickson knocked down her fifth three-pointer to end a string of six unanswered points from Notre Dame.
"When your [team] is young, you need to be able to establish momentum and keep it going," McGraw said. "It's hard to handle [Erickson's shooting] when you're a young team. I don't know if frustration was the word. But I think it's very difficult to overcome tremendous shooting."
Still, the Irish did rally. A Sheila McMillen lay-up capped a 13-3 run for Notre Dame and brought it to within one of the Blue Devils with eight minutes left in the game.
However, sophomore Peppi Browne sparked a 12-6 Duke run in the next three minutes. Then, Erickson put the exclamation point on her night with her sixth and final trifecta to ignite a 13-2 game-ending run.
Just two years ago, however, no one had thought Erickson would be lighting up Cameron, at least not in a Duke uniform. After a brilliant career at Brea-Olinda High School in Fullerton, Calif., Erickson took her talents to Purdue, where she was a bit player in the Boilermakers' Elite Eight team of 1995.
However, a coaching change prompted Erickson to transfer to Duke after the 1996 season. After sitting out last year and undergoing off-season shoulder surgery, playing a starring role just two games into the season was more than even Erickson could ask for.
"Every time I get out on the court, I'm just happy that I'm able to be there," Erickson said. "Especially coming off an injury, I think I just appreciate it a little more. It feels so good to be emotional and excited and be a part of something."
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