CLEMSON, S.C. - With Santa Claus attending the game, it's no wonder the women's basketball team was in such a charitable mood.
This past weekend, the 11th-ranked Blue Devils (6-2, 0-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) traveled to Clemson's Littlejohn Coliseum to share in the spirit of giving. Unfortunately, the 26 presents they gave resulted in a 72-61 humbling at the hands of unranked Clemson (5-2, 1-0 in the ACC) Saturday in the ACC season opener for both teams.
Every Duke starter turned the ball over at least three times, leading to a season-high 26 turnovers-Duke's highest single-game total since nearly a year ago against George Washington. Duke's extreme generosity, however, would've drawn the ire of even jolly old Saint Nick, not to mention Duke head coach Gail Goestenkors.
"I have no idea [why we turned the ball over so many times]," Goestenkors said. "We were not ready to play mentally, physically, emotionally and every other -ly you could think of. We were not ready to play. I was very embarrassed for the effort. I have no answers how we can possibly be so unfocused."
One player who was definitely ready to play, however, was Clemson guard Amy Geren.
With Clemson's marquee player Itoro Umoh hampered by a pulled hamstring, an abscessed tooth and two bad ankles, the 5-foot-11 Geren poured in a season-high 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting, including a perfect 4-of-4 from beyond the three-point line. Geren also led her team in rebounds with eight and chipped in with two steals-not bad for a day's work.
"I knew nobody was going to let me stand out there and shoot," Geren said. "They are always out there on me, I don't ever feel like I'm open. It seems like everyone's always crowding me. I have to go [to the halfcourt line] to be open. I really have been emphasizing [my midrange game] which hasn't been pretty good lately. But tonight it was pretty good."
The first half of this contest would have made any basketball coach cringe. The two teams combined for 24 turnovers in 20 minutes and shot an anemic 39.2 percent for the half.
With the game tied at 26, Geren gave Clemson the lead for good on its final possession of the half by draining her second triple and drawing a foul from Duke's Georgia Schweitzer in the process. Geren converted the free throw to give Clemson a 30-26 lead going into halftime and complete the first four-point play in the history of Clemson women's basketball.
Clemson picked up right where it left off in the second half, capitalizing on Duke's carelessness with the ball to stretch its lead to 44-34 with 12 minutes remaining. Duke responded by applying full-court pressure spearheaded by the athletic tandem of Peppi Browne and Rochelle Parent.
The Blue Devil press forced several Tiger turnovers resulting in easy Duke scores which got them to within four points of Clemson. However, when Browne left the game after picking up her fourth foul while trapping the ball-handler, Duke's pressure defense exited with her.
"We tried to get some tempo and some emotion going for us because we didn't seem to have any," Goestenkors said. "We caused them some problems. Unfortunately,... Peppi Browne in that process picked up her fourth foul, and we had to take her out of the game. We're not the same pressing team with Lauren Rice at the power forward as we are with Peppi."
Duke's continued sloppiness allowed the Tigers to eventually build a 60-48 lead with three minutes remaining. Rice's three-pointer trimmed the Clemson lead to seven at the 2:22 mark. Geren, however, snuffed out any hopes Duke had of a miraculous comeback by drilling a 25-foot bomb with the shot clock winding down on the ensuing Clemson possession.
"I'm just so proud of our young ladies," Davis said. "They played like Tigers tonight. Duke is an outstanding basketball team, they [have] all the components. I don't think it was anything other than our players teeing it up toe-to-toe and playing good pressure defense."
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