Entering last night's game, no one would have been surprised to hear the Duke women's basketball team would force seven turnovers during a four-minute stretch, extending its lead over Maryland from nine to 20 points.
It is very unlikely that anyone would have expected this run to begin with just under nine minutes left in regulation.
The ninth-ranked Blue Devils (18-4, 10-0 in the ACC) entered the game against the Terrapins (3-16, 1-9) as overwhelming favorites and ended it as expected with a 72-54 win. But how they got there was a twist from the norm.
The first three minutes of the game went very much according to plan. Following a Michele VanGorp three-pointer from the top of the key and a Peppi Browne layup, the Blue Devils led 11-2.
But this early spurt did not take Terrapins out of the game. On the strength of two three-pointers from point guard Tiffany Brown, Maryland cut the deficit to 13-8 by the first TV timeout.
Duke shot 14-of-30 from the field in the first half, led by Van Gorp's 5-for-6 performance and Nicole Erickson's nine points on three treys. But the Blue Devils were never able to gain a substantial lead and at
Turnovers were the most glaring reason for Duke's inability to put Maryland away. The Blue Devils turned the ball over 11 times in the first half, resulting in a 33-33 tie at intermission.
Coach Gail Goestenkors attributed her team's sloppy play to its week-long layoff before this game.
"The first half was not a good half of basketball for us," she said. "We played like we had a week off; we played like we haven't worked on our offense in a week. In the first half we didn't look inside to [VanGorp], and that's really our bread and butter to go inside and let them work. We really got away from that."
The primary reason that Duke was unable to work the ball to VanGorp was Maryland's 6-foot-8 center Branka Bogunovic. She played the entire first half and controlled the paint for all 20 minutes. Her 11 points matched Van Gorp's first-half total. But her seven rebounds offset Maryland's 10 turnovers and kept the Terps in the game.
The second half was an entirely different story. The Blue Devils returned for the second half and immediately set about putting the previous 20 minutes behind them. VanGorp scored eight points in the first five minutes, and Duke gained a six-point lead at 46-40.
Nicole Erickson hit a three-pointer from the top of the key to extend the lead. But shortly afterward VanGorp picked up her third foul and Payton Black came off the bench to replace her.
After playing the entire first half, Bogunovic appeared exhausted and unable to deal with VanGorp. The arrival of a rested Black seemed to completely remove Bogunovic from the game. Maryland finally had to put in a substitute.
Maryland Coach Chris Weller did not feel that playing her center the entire first half was a bad decision.
"We don't have a Payton Black, a VanGorp, a Krista Gingrich, that's why they are No. 9 in the nation," she said. "[Bogunovic's] backup lacks the experience."
With Bogunovic out of the game, Duke was able to complete the aforementioned run as Hilary Howard and Naz Medhanie hit consecutive threes.
Duke won't get a chance to play in front of its home crowd for ten days. The Blue Devils hit the road for the rest of this week, with stops at Virginia Thursday night and Georgia Tech Sunday afternoon.
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