The women's basketball team paid the price for a difficult exhibition schedule Saturday night as it was beaten 77-69 by the Russian junior national team at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The Russians had previously beaten North Carolina, picked to finish first in the ACC, and lost to N.C. State by only four points in their last game.
Duke coach Gail Goestenkors said afterwards that she felt that scheduling such a difficult opponent for an exhibition game was an advantage for the Blue Devils.
"We want to get better," she said. "You really don't find out very much about yourself if you are playing an opponent that's not very good. You find out a great deal when you're playing an exceptional team because they take advantage of your weaknesses."
Despite the absence of injured starters Krista Gingrich and Georgia Schweitzer, the Blue Devils almost pulled out the victory. With just over four minutes remaining the score was tied at 65. But the Russians mounted an 8-0 run to put the game out of reach.
It began when Russian point guard Olga Chouneikina knocked down a three pointer to put her team ahead 68-65. The Blue Devils had an opportunity on their next possession, but freshman Michele Matyasovsky had her shot blocked by Oksana Zakaluzhnaya.
The blocked shot set up a lay-up from Tatiana Zhogoleva to put the Russians up 70-65. Duke could do nothing, as its next two possessions resulted in two more blocked shots by the much taller Russian squad.
But Peppi Browne said afterwards that she was not as bothered by Duke's failure to score as she was by the Russian team's getting open shots in the final minutes.
"There was no rotation," she said. "We just didn't talk or pick up a man. I don't think we were flowing on defense. Granted this is our first game, but we should be at that level."
Browne's criticism was well-founded. Following those two blocks, Zhogoleva hit another lay-up to put the Russians ahead 72-65. This turned the game into a score-and-foul situation that the Blue Devils were unable to use to their advantage.
Duke's inability to close cannot be blamed on lack of quality guard play. Freshman Sheana Mosch, who led the Blue Devils with 23 points, showed no hesitation under pressure as she knocked down two difficult jumpers with under a minute remaining in the game.
Goestenkors was pleased afterwards with the freshman guard's poise under pressure.
"It's something we were hoping for," she said. "I don't know if we expected it this early. She's a great scorer, and she does have a lot of confidence."
Mosch was effective with the jump shot. But Duke could not buy a basket inside during the waning moments of the game.
The difficulties the Blue Devils had inside can be directly attached to the play of the 6-foot-6-inch Russian center Zakaluzhnaya. The Russian proved why she has drawn attention from WNBA scouts, scoring 23 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and seeming to alter every Duke shot from inside eight feet.
Goestenkors said that her main concern was taking something out of the game for the rest of the season.
"Patience on offense," she said. "I felt we were very impatient. We tried to do a lot of one-on-one, and we're not a one-on-one team. We need to be a great motion team, and to be a great motion team you have to have patience."
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