Fundamentals, something so simple and so basic, are often times the difference between the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.
This past Monday Duke's 20th-ranked women's basketball team traveled to Chapel Hill to take on its archrival and seventh-ranked North Carolina. It was not for lack of effort on Duke's part that it lost 83-74. Both teams played with emotion and intensity on both ends of the court. In the final five minutes, when the game was on the line, the Tar Heels did the simple things, making sure the right people had the ball at the right time, hitting the big shots and making their foul shots. Duke was not able to do likewise and Carolina came away with the win.
The Tar Heels got the ball to their best player, All-American Tracy Reid. After scoring 12 points in the first half, Duke contained Reid for most of the second, allowing Reid to score one basket and four points in the first 13 minutes of the second half. Peppi Browne's quickness seemed to frustrate Reid, but when the game was on the line Reid responded.
"[Reid] just played like she plays." Duke center Michele VanGorp said. "She's a very aggressive player. She wants the ball. She's a senior; she's going to take over. Sure enough she got the ball, and when she had it she took it to the basket. She didn't shoot an outside jumper or fadeaway or anything, she took it to the basket and finished the play: That's what you expect out of an All-American."
Reid scored 17 points in the last eight minutes of the game and ended up scoring 17 out of Carolina's final 24 points.
Duke still had its chances, though. The Blue Devils were only down by three with five minutes left in the game. Duke simply was not able to convert on offense. Key turnovers and missed shots, including a couple of layups, allowed UNC the breathing room it needed.
"I feel like we made some mental errors offensively," Duke coach Gail Goestenkors said "Some easy shots, some putbacks, that... they were right there underneath the basket. We turned the ball over a couple of times, so.... We just didn't play smart towards the end of the game offensively and Tracy Reid took it over for them."
Even though Reid did most of the scoring, the rest of the Tar Heels contributed to the effort. The Tar Heels were aggressive driving to the basket, forcing Duke to either stop or foul them. For the most part it was the latter and UNC capitalized by making their foul shots.
The foul line is often called the free throw line or the charity stripe because these points are gifts and should be freebies. The Tar Heels for the game made 17 out of 20 and made their last 16 straight. Duke seemed content to settle for the outside shot. Duke made 10 out of 19 threes for the game, and 5 for 13 in the second half. A lot of the misses were converted into easy baskets for the Tar Heels.
"We got tentative and Carolina got aggressive," VanGorp said. "They started going at the hole and we started passing the ball around, moving around the three-point line instead of either attacking the basket or pounding the ball inside, which was what had worked for us the whole game. We just stopped doing what we had done best the whole game and they basically did what they did best."
Career nights by VanGorp and freshman Georgia Schweitzer kept Duke in the game after falling behind by 12 early in the game. In crunch time, however, UNC's experience and attention to fundamentals allowed it to pull away from a Blue Devil squad the failed to demonstrate the same focus.
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