Cameron Indoor Stadium may be the only place where Michele VanGorp has been overlooked in her entire life.
While Duke has raced out to its best ACC start in school history, carrying another school-best 13 game win streak along the way, the 6-foot-6 Blue Devil center has marched right in step, all the way to the top of the hypothetical midseason ACC MVP ballots.
But with school records falling and conference records standing on shaky ground, VanGorp is getting second billing from opposing coaches.
"I think Duke is doing a great job playing very good team basketball, and it's obvious that the team is bigger than any of the parts," Maryland coach Chris Weller said. "That's what makes VanGorp so effective. She stays down where she needs to be, getting the job done. She's doing a great job in there. She's very skilled and she finishes well."
VanGorp was one missed transition layup away from perfection-10 of 11 from the floor for a game-high 21 points. Over the last three games, the Macomb, Mich., native is on a blistering 34-for-40 tear-75 points on 85 percent shooting.
Duke coach Gail Goestenkors split the credit for VanGorp's recent success between her star post player and those on the other end of the assists.
"Michele's a great shooter," Goestenkors said. "She's a center with a great touch, and the team does a great job of getting the ball in where she's at a position to be effective. She has great focus to finish the play."
While the game itself was a twice-told tale with everyone waiting for the familiar plot twist that would see the Blue Devils spurt out in front, the matchup in the paint proved to be a halftime toss-up.
After a sluggish first half where Goestenkors said she was "disappointed" with her team's inability to get the ball inside, VanGorp and Duke reserve Payton Black dominated the interior. VanGorp found the ball in her hands on each of the first three Blue Devil possessions, scoring twice as Duke pushed itself out to a lead it would not again relinquish.
Defensively, Goestenkors' frontcourt tandem was able to turn back Branka Bogunovic's near single-handed upset push. The Blue Devils kept the Serbian native off of the glass and out of the scoring column.
"With someone like [Bogunovic], you have to hold your position a little bit better, creating a little more space," VanGorp said. "In the first half I felt like I got caught under the basket a little bit. We knew [in the second half] we had to get her off the boards and get our team the rebound."
Then the story became an old and familiar refrain. With Duke's inside attack firmly established, Weller found herself forced to make a decision against the Blue Devils' pick-your-poison offense. The Terrapins coach chose a zone and suffered the consequence-a barrage of Duke threes.
Weller said after the game that it was her team's inability to stop either facet of the Blue Devil offense that caused the 18-point second-half rift.
"We tried to go to a zone to stop the momentum that was being created inside, [but] they just hit some big buckets and now we're giving up threes," Weller said. "You have to give up something. We might as well play it straight."
With a long ACC schedule left to be played and Virginia on the horizon, what this game may have proved was what Goestenkors already knew: her squad can find a way to win.
"I felt like in the second half we were going to take control," she said. "That's the mentality of this team, to get back to basics or get away from things that aren't working. When things aren't going our way we know what we have to do to be successful."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.