The number 13 is usually associated with good or bad luck, depending on which team you play for. For Georgia Tech's Danielle Donehew, 13 was the lucky number of her game-high first-half points, but for Tech coach Agnes Berenato, 13 signified the number of consecutive games the Yellow Jackets have lost to the Blue Devils.
"The best thing I got tonight was a free t-shirt," Berenato said. "And I had to steal that."
Duke (19-4, 8-3 in the ACC) pounded Tech (12-10, 5-7) in a Friday night battle in Cameron Indoor Stadium that included sophomore Krista Gingrich contributing her own lucky 13 second-half points to tie the game-high of 21.
The 81-53 drubbing halted a two-game losing streak that threatened to be the first time in three years the No. 14 Blue Devils had lost three straight games. More importantly, Duke showed that it could win more than decisively without the Blue Devils' leading rebounder Peppi Browne, who has not played since she tore her ACL against North Carolina Jan. 27.
"We're not used to losing, and losing two games in a row was very difficult for us to take," coach Gail Goestenkors said. "We wanted to come out and protect our home, to just get back on the winning track."
The Blue Devils finished Tech off with a 27-4 second-half run that continued until nine minutes remained in the game.
"If I was going to ask [Goestenkors]
Duke started off sluggish in the first half, with two turnovers in the first minute of play before Gingrich put the Blue Devils on the board with a three-pointer from the left side of the arc.
Junior Jaime Kruppa, Tech's leading scorer who averages 11.3 points per game, scored first for the Yellow Jackets on a free throw. The game was tied at 7-7 with 14:20 remaining in the half, when junior Rochelle Parent scored a layup right underneath Tech's defense to take the lead for the rest of the game.
But even though Duke seemed to be returning to its winning form, the game remained relatively close as the Blue Devils exhibited quick passing only to miss easy layups with less than eight minutes left in the first half.
"We worked all week on defense, more so than our offense," Goestenkors said. "It took us a little while offensively to get comfortable."
Defensively, the Blue Devils locked Kruppa down, limiting her to just one field goal for the first half. But Duke failed to cool Donehew off as she went three-for-six from beyond the arc in the last five minutes of the half.
Donehew's last three cut the Blue Devil lead at halftime to seven, 33-26, when it had been as high as 12 only two minutes before.
"We started playing a little tentative and not trusting ourselves and not trusting each other defensively," Goestenkors said. "And you get in trouble if you do that."
Going into the locker room, the Yellow Jackets held title to the higher field goal percentage, 39.3 compared to Duke's 35.3, and Donehew helped Tech to a 42.9 three-point percentage.
But the second half was a completely different story.
Duke came out ready to play, but Tech got off to a good start. Donehew scored a short jumper and freshman Amy Lingenfelder drained a three in the first minute.
Those five points would be the Yellow Jackets' last from the floor for more than nine minutes as Duke outscored Tech, 27-4. They would also mark Donehew's last for the game, and she finished with 15.
Schweitzer then began the run that showed how she has contributed 20 or more points in seven games already this season. The junior scored seven points in a little over a minute to spark Duke's run and put the finishing touches on an ice-cold Yellow Jacket offense.
"We got the sense that Georgia Tech was a little tired, so that's when we decided to work on our transition game and got on the break really well," Gingrich said. "I think that's what broke it open a little bit."
The Blue Devils will try to win their 20th game of the season when they meet Wake Forest tonight at 7:30 p.m. in Winston-Salem.
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