It was heartbreak city for Duke when it traveled to College Park to face the Maryland Terrapins on Jan. 30. The Blue Devils were riding high after defeating three straight ranked opponents, including a 93-66 drubbing of the then-No. 11 Virginia Cavaliers.
When the dust had settled in College Park, Maryland emerged victorious 54-53, thanks in part to Sonia Chase's 15-foot jumper with 5.3 seconds remaining in the game. Duke coaches and players attributed the loss to overconfidence, poor rebounding and an anemic second half offensive performance.
Duke was looking to avoid a repeat of Friday's situation when Wake Forest came to town last night. The Blue Devils needed a win to move within one game of first place in the conference, but first needed to take care of business against Wake.
Wake Forest, long the punching bag for Atlantic Coast Conference competition, came out playing hard in the first half. The Demon Deacons were led by freshman Kristen Shaffer's 11 points and trailed only by 10 points at the half, 37-27. The small deficit was a positive for Wake considering they had not played good basketball and their leading scorer, Heidi Coleman, had not yet scored.
Duke played solid defense in the first half, but only forced seven turnovers. More troubling for the Blue Devils, however, was that their starters were not producing offensively. The starters combined for only 15 points in the first half and the team desperately needed an offensive spark. The Blue Devil bench provided that spark in the first half, when Payton Black and Lauren Rice scored 10 and nine points, respectively.
It was clear early in the game that Duke wanted to use its post game early, using Black and Michele VanGorp's inside strength to wear down the smaller front line of Wake. Duke also used its deep bench and played up tempo to tire the ailing Deacons.
"We had three players that were questionable up until game time," Wake Forest head coach Charlene Curtis said. "We were very concerned about Duke's athleticism and their bench. Anytime you can bring Black, Rice and Naz Medhanie off the bench, you are going to have a chance to win a lot of games."
Although Wake did use 10 players in the first half, it was plagued with sickness and inexperience.
"We are a very young team and we are just trying to improve each game," Curtis said.
Duke came out and played very aggressive defense in the second half. Nicole Erickson and Hilary Howard did an excellent job defending the perimeter and making it very difficult for Wake's post players to get good looks.
This strategy is not new to Duke, as it has used the same strategy against premier guards in the ACC such as Nikki Teasley of North Carolina and Itoro Umoh of Clemson. The extended defense is a big factor in the Blue Devils' 15 wins.
Duke's guards put tremendous pressure on the ball handlers in the back court. This strategy decreases the effectiveness of an opponent's half court game since so much of the shot clock is burned in advancing the ball into the front-court.
"We take a lot of pride in shutting down the other's teams best perimeter player," head coach Gail Goestenkors said. "We put [Howard] on the opposing team's best player. She does a really good job of shutting that player down."
The Blue Devils have often used their bench to provide offensive firepower and to wear down opposing teams that aren't as deep.
As Duke gears up for the ACC and NCAA tournaments, these factors will become increasingly more important to its success. Duke still faces N. C. State, UNC and Virginia in important conference games that will determine the regular season champion and seeding in the ACC tournament.
It is evident that Duke is a very talented team that can beat anyone when it effectively uses their pressure defense and gets key contributions from its bench. While the Blue Devils have never won an ACC regular season crown, this year they are definitely talented enough to step up.
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