In its upset victory against Penn State yesterday, Duke outshot the Nittany Lions from the floor, from the foul line and from behind the three-point line.
But none of that seemed to matter to Duke coach Gail Goestenkors, who raved about her team's performance in a category that usually appears in the box score right next to pizzas ordered during postgame.
"We may lead the nation in floorburns this year because we're going to get after it-we have to in order to be successful," Goestenkors said. "We fight and scrap for every rebound, every loose ball. I felt like we played with great emotion from start to finish."
In a game that often resembled rugby more than basketball, Duke's ability to emerge from the scrums with the ball, and all four limbs on most occasions, proved pivotal in the final outcome.
The blue-collar hustle with which Duke won the game stands in contrast to the Duke team of yesteryear, when it simply overpowered opponents with Michele VanGorp's dominant inside play.
And yesterday, the Blue Devils won without much offensive production in the post nor a phenomenal outside shooting display. Duke pulled the upset by scrambling after the rebounds and becoming best friends with the Cameron floor.
"This is a team that I'm going to love to coach,
Duke's emotion and intensity showed early. On Penn State's opening offensive possession, Peppi Browne emphatically swatted away the first shot from Andrea Garner, the Big Ten's preseason player of the year.
Two near-steals by Rochelle Parent and Georgia Schweitzer and a charge taken by Parent within the first four minutes of play set the tone. Penn State may have won each of its first three games by at least 22 points, but Duke made sure this game would be a dogfight.
"I felt at halftime that our team did not play as hard and that was the difference," Penn State coach Rene Portland said. "Duke played with a whole lot of emotion, and every time they wanted [the ball], they got it."
A physical battle in the first half became an absolute free-for-all in the opening minutes of the second. Penn State's switch to the full-court press turned the game into a track meet, and the two teams combined for eight turnovers in a frenetic five minute-stretch.
While the ugly play may have slowed last year's team, this year's edition almost seems to thrive amid ugliness. Despite losing guard Krista Gingrich early in the second half after she reaggravated an ankle injury, Duke retained its composure against the Lions' press and maintained its scrappiness on defense.
Freshman Michele Matyasovsky and Browne accounted for three straight baskets midway through the second half to extend a six-point lead to 12, and the air-tight defense never allowed Penn State to cut the lead to under eight points again.
After dropping 96 points on a St. Joseph's squad that nearly derailed Duke in the second round of the NCAAs last year, Penn State shot an abysmal 27 percent from the floor against Duke. Although PSU guard Helen Darling blamed it on plain bad shooting, Duke's feisty defense certainly had something to do with it.
"It's hard for a young team to sustain the [defensive intensity] the whole game, but we've been playing well," said senior Lauren Rice, who recorded a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. "We've got a scrappy team this year, we're all willing to put it all out on the court."
And in a year when the Blue Devils won't be able to put the same offensive weapons on the court they had last year, their heart and hustle may be what it takes.
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