GREENSBORO - It was David and Goliath, round two.
However, this time David didn't have any rocks left in his slingshot. The Yellow Jackets had knocked off N.C. State in the quarterfinals just one night earlier, but fatigue and a near triple-double from Lauren Rice spoiled Georgia Tech's bid to pull off back-to-back upsets.
"The game was lost in the first half," Tech coach Agnus Berenato said. "We missed 12 layups and Duke made 12 layups. That was the game right there. As coaches, we try to get our team the best shots possible and the layup is a pretty good shot. We just have to make those layups. Yesterday, we hit our layups much better than we did today."
The Yellow Jackets were visibly fatigued from the opening tip and Duke further contributed to their fatigue by taking advantage of its superior bench, using nine players in the first half alone. The Blue Devils wore down the Yellow Jackets by constantly applying full-court pressure and forcing Tech to work hard for every basket.
The Yellow Jackets finished with only six fast-break points and seldom had uncontested looks at the basket. Duke also held Danielle Donehew, one of the ACC's premier three-point shooters, to just two field goals and didn't allow her to get on track from beyond the arc.
"I was really pleased with our team's overall effort," Duke coach Gail Goestenkors said. "Our bench in particular did a fantastic job today. I think that was important for us.
"I give Agnus a lot of credit. They were playing their best basketball. I just think they got a little fatigued down the stretch. I told our team before the game that our goal was to wear them down a little bit and that it was going to be methodical."
Rice, who came just one assist shy of a triple-double, also contributed to the demise of the Yellow Jackets. The senior from Peru, Ind., turned in one of her best performances of the season, and sent the Yellow Jackets into preparations for the upcoming WNIT tournament.
Rice collected 10 rebounds to go along with her nine assists and 14 points. She knocked down four of her six shot attempts, including 2-of-4 three pointers and was a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe. More importantly, it was her versatility that was invaluable to her team.
When Duke rested its guards in the second half to prepare for tonight's championship contest, Rice played the point guard position for several minutes of the game. She gave the ball away just three times in 28 minutes of play, rather impressive for a player who logs most of her minutes at the center position.
"What goes around comes around," Berenato joked. "We knew that Lauren was a senior and we wanted to be nice to her. We wanted Lauren to experience the euphoria of a triple-double."
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