Duke women knock off No. 5 Tar Heels

Jeff Hornacek and Dale Ellis beware-here comes the Duke women's basketball team.

The 13th-ranked Blue Devils (17-6, 10-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) did their best impression of the NBA long-range specialists Thursday night in Cameron Indoor Stadium as they connected on a school-record 12 three-pointers en route to an impressive 83-70 win over No. 5 North Carolina (19-5, 9-4 ACC).

Junior Nicole Erickson was the star for the Blue Devils as she poured in 27 points, two shy of a career high, and drained 3-of-5 attempts from downtown. On the other end of the floor, Duke held UNC's All-America candidate Tracy Reid to just 12 points after Reid burned the Blue Devils for 31 in the Tar Heels' 83-74 win in Chapel Hill exactly one month ago.

The key for Duke, however, was undoubtedly its hot stroke from the outside. The Blue Devils finished 12-for-22 from long range and were a torrid 6-for-6 to start the game. In fact, Duke's first 15 points all came on three-pointers.

"I thought Duke played extremely well," UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell said. "They shot lights out for the first half-you can't leave any of them open. They were burning the nets up from three. Great shooting saves a multitude of sins."

Freshman Georgia Schweitzer was the Blue Devils' long range ace in the first frame, hitting 3-of-4 treys while Erickson and junior Hilary Howard both hit a pair. Lauren Rice and Naz Medhanie both got in on the act as well, hitting one apiece as Duke made 9-of-14 as a team.

The Blue Devils soundly beat the Tar Heels at both ends of the floor in the first half, connecting on 50 percent of their own field goal attempts but limiting Carolina to an abysmal 29-percent shooting. Duke had UNC reeling early and never looked back in the first stanza, building a lead that swelled to 21 with 1:20 to go and stood at 17 at the half, 45-28.

"When we played so well at N.C. State (a 75-61 win) and at home against Virginia (W 93-66) and Clemson (W 78-59), we did it one possession at a time," Duke coach Gail Goestenkors said. "At Maryland (L 54-53) and Georgia Tech (W 58-55), we wanted to be up by 20 to start the game. I think we did a good job tonight of getting back to the basics."

That spectacular basket and a tough three-point play by Peppi Browne on the ensuing possession gave Duke back the momentum and swung the 5,879 in attendance-an ACC season high-back to the Blue Devils' side.

The Tar Heels refused to give up and threatened twice more, only to have Erickson plunge a dagger into them-first with a long three-pointer and then with perfect free-throw shooting down the stretch; she finished 12-of-12 on the night.

"Every team is going to make a run and we were prepared for UNC's," Howard said. "We survived because we tightened our defense and Nicole stepped up."

The win was Duke's first over a top-5 team in over three years and helped the Blue Devils hold on to a share of the lead in the ACC. Duke stays atop the league standings along with N.C. State (19-4, 10-3 ACC), who downed Virginia 70-63 Thursday night, and moves one game up on the Tar Heels. The Blue Devils also upped their conference home record to a perfect 7-0 on the year.

The conference race should go down to the wire as N.C. State must still face both Duke (next Thursday at 7 p.m. in Cameron) and UNC (Sun. Feb. 22, in Raleigh).

"I don't think anyone ever been in the driver's seat this year in the ACC," Goestenkors said. "I've said before, we're carpooling.

"I thought we peaked two weeks ago when we beat State, Virginia and Clemson," Goestenkors continued, commenting on her own team's chances. "Then we went on a slide and I thought now we were ready for another upswing. I think after tonight that we are on our way back up."

The Blue Devils' next game is Sunday in Tallahassee against Florida State (8-15, 4-9 ACC) at 1 p.m.