RALEIGH - After getting out of the gates quickly this season, Payton Black endured a three-game stretch earlier in the month during which she averaged a mere 12 minutes and 6.3 points per contest. One of Duke's top inside weapons was struggling, and head coach Gail Goestenkors knew it and did not like it.
Goestenkors spoke with Black in a one-on-one meeting after Black's miserable outing against North Carolina and challenged the junior to become more assertive offensively. Goestenkors followed her words with definitive action, benching Black for the first time in two seasons last Friday against Florida State.
With the way Black responded against the Seminoles Friday and North Carolina State last night, Goestenkors may be well-advised to cancel practice and just schedule meetings in its place.
Relegated to the bench for the second consecutive contest against the Wolfpack, Black evidently did not take a liking to her seat. She came off the pine, scoring a game-high 20 points to help the Blue Devils to a 75-61 upset win over No. 8 N.C. State.
"I was proud of everybody, but Payton in particular," Goestenkors said. "She demanded the ball down low; the guards got her the ball. She wanted the ball down the stretch, and she attacked them. That's one thing we've been asking her to do a little bit more of-attacking the basket."
Black sure picked a strange night for her offensive fireworks, since the Wolfpack's interior tandem of Chasity Melvin and Peace Shepard is one of the biggest and arguably one of the best front lines in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
"Obviously, I wasn't playing up to my potential [earlier in the month]," Black said. "I took what [Goestenkors] said and worked hard in practice and tried to work on attacking the basket and rebounding. That's what I've been trying to do these last two games, not doing anything fancy, but just do what I had to do."
At Reynolds Coliseum last night, where Black had never won, she certainly did do exactly what she had to do. After chipping in with six points in 10 minutes in the first half, Black really exploded in the second. She entered the game with three minutes gone in the final stanza and did not return to the bench for the remainder of the game.
Black scored just about every way imaginable: tip-ins, turn-around jumpers, acrobatic prayers and breakaway lay-ups. For the half, Black shot 6-of-10 from the floor and scored 14 points in just 17 minutes of action.
In addition to her scoring, Black also managed to pull down six rebounds, including three on the offensive end, and record a steal without turning the ball over once. All this simply made the Wolfpack and Black's teammates wonder where this Payton Black character had been in the North Carolina game, when she recorded an unimpressive line of two points and three rebounds.
"We kind of overlooked Payton because everyone is concentrating on [Duke center Michelle] VanGorp," Melvin said. "Against Carolina, [VanGorp] did really well and Payton didn't, so I think we were kind of overlooking [Black] and made things a little bit easier for her."
If Black continues at this pace, there probably will no longer be any teams left who neglect her. More importantly for Black, however, she probably will no longer be starting the game looking on from the bench.
"I wasn't taking her out of the starting lineup to punish her but just to help her refocus, both in practice and in games," Goestenkors said. "She took it to heart. It's not an easy thing to do-going from a starter to being on the bench. She understood I was trying to do what's best for the team and what's best for her."
And judging from last night's results, what's good for Black these days is great for the team.
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