For the first 11:32 of the game against Virginia, Georgia Schweitzer was nowhere to be found. When Duke's leading scorer finally found the hoop, however, it was all downhill for the Cavaliers.
Despite the slow start, Schweitzer finished the game with a career-high 24 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including 4-of-5 from behind the arc as Duke rolled to a 83-62 win.
In addition to her offensive performance, Schweitzer was a thorn in the side of Virginia coach Debbie Ryan all afternoon.
"She definitely is asserting herself more, and she is taking her role very seriously," Ryan said. "She is providing them with good leadership and obviously very aggressive offensive play."
Schweitzer scored her first points of the game on a jump shot off a pass from Lauren Rice, giving the Blue Devils an 18-11 lead with 8:28 remaining, but that was just the beginning of the show.
"The way our offense is, I know I'm going to get my shots," Schweitzer said. "I don't get worried about that kind of thing. I let the game come to me."
After Virginia cut the lead to 18-14 with 7:39 left in the half, Schweitzer went on an 8-0 run over the next 1:21 to give Duke a cushion it would never lose.
With 7:07 left before intermission, Schweitzer buried a three-pointer from two feet behind the arc to extend the Blue Devil lead to seven, at 21-14. Just 21 seconds later, Gingrich got the ball to Schweitzer inside to draw a foul. She converted both free throws to build the lead to nine.
One minute later, following a UVa turnover, Gingrich gained control of a loose ball in the lane and found Schweitzer open on the wing. Once again, Schweitzer rippled the twine from long range, giving Duke its first double-digit lead of the game at 26-14. Virginia would not get closer than 10 points for the rest of the contest.
After Schweitzer nailed another three late in the half on a pass from Gingrich, she returned the favor to her teammate, as she penetrated the defense and kicked the ball out for the open three. At this point, Duke enjoyed a 17-point bulge, 39-22.
With 13 first-half points in the books, Schweitzer picked up right where she left off to start the second.
With 13:28 left to play, Schweitzer gave the Blue Devils their largest lead of the game, as she connected on a three-pointer form the wing to make the score 58-37.
As Virginia began a rally, cutting Duke's lead to just 11 with 8:28 to play, Schweitzer got the ball in her hands once again. She drove near the free throw line, then pulled up and banked in a 16-footer to push Duke's lead back to 13.
"We shouldn't have given her that shot," Ryan said. "I guess she was slightly covered, but you can't give her that shot. You can't give her the ball in position to score."
Unfortunately for the Wahoos, Schweitzer picked her opponent apart from long range, medium range and inside. She also did a tremendous job running the Duke offense, as she only committed two turnovers on the day.
Even with Schweitzer's outstanding performance, Ryan was reluctant to hand out too much praise.
"There were games last year where Schweitzer was called upon [to lead the team]," Ryan said. "She does have a lot of experience. She's the one out there that knows what it takes.
"[But] you also have to be intelligent enough to know that she does one thing, and if you take it away that makes life a lot easier for you."
As the Cavaliers found out, however, Schweitzer does her "thing" very well. Her offensive onslaught has helped Duke to five consecutive victories, and yesterday, it led the Blue Devils to their fifth-straight win over Virginia.
While Duke has been labeled as the underdog much of this season, Schweitzer knows that those labels don't matter on the court.
"I don't ever go into a game expecting to lose or thinking I'm overmatched," Schweitzer said. "Our team goes into every game confident that we are going to win. We play hard out there, and we're good. People don't give us a lot of credit, but we're good."
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