RALEIGH - With eight minutes left and Duke leading the Wolfpack 46-44, another matchup between the rivals seemed headed to a classic finish.
The two had been more or less trading baskets for the past nine minutes, and an interesting offensive duel was developing between each team's leading freshmen, Alana Beard and Adeola Olanrewaju.
But after N.C. State had blitzed the Blue Devils with a 17-2 run in just five minutes, no one seemed able to settle on an explanation.
The Wolfpack's Tynesha Lewis believed her team simply worked the ball better in the second half and got more open looks. Duke senior Georgia Schweitzer attributed the run to a loss of patience.
"Obviously it was frustrating," Schweitzer said. "Shots weren't falling for us, we were playing too much one-on-one when we needed to work the ball."
But the fact is, neither Lewis nor Schweitzer quite understood what changed the game so quickly; leave that to coach Gail Goestenkors.
At the post-game press conference, Goestenkors was typically critical of her team, but in an uncharacteristically enthusiastic way. Despite such a tough loss, the occasional smile on her face signaled that she knew something her sullen-faced players did not.
"This is really going to be good for us in the long run," Goestenkors said. "As a coach, it has forced my eyes wide open. We have to have a post game. We have none."
Although she cited her team's interior weakness as being present the entire afternoon, the implication was that the Wolfpack's game-ending run could in itself be traced to this lack of balance on the frontcourt.
Goestenkors' only true threat inside is forward Iciss Tillis, who has been showing her youth in recent games.
The freshman picked up two fouls in the first five minutes and had to sit for most of the first half. When she was on the court, she played largely on the perimeter, allowing the Wolfpack defense to pressure Duke's deep backcourt.
The resulting offensive inefficiency frustrated Duke into bad shots, which in turn seemed to lead to a lack of intensity on the other end of the floor. N.C. State had just two turnovers in the second half, meaning the Blue Devils struggled to force the higher tempo that favors them.
The Wolfpack also held a 29-14 rebounding edge after the break, a stat that aggravated Goestenkors.
"Our defense broke down," she said. "If they weren't making the first shot, they were getting the ball on the offensive rebound. They had the momentum and the confidence."
Reynolds Coliseum is a brutal place for visitors and, as the young Blue Devils found out yesterday, a single momentum swing to the home team may be the deciding factor of an entire game.
N.C. State was far from dominating. Led by the senior duo of Rochelle Parent and Georgia Schweitzer, Duke played great defense and held a six-point edge at halftime despite shooting an abysmal 32 percent.
As the lead began to shrink, Tillis responded with some aggressive moves inside and made, along with Beard, several key baskets in the second half that kept the Blue Devils close most of the afternoon.
When the point guard Schweitzer was unable to get the ball into the middle lanes, the Wolfpack's defense took over and the atmosphere at Reynolds became too much.
"We're a young team and sometimes you need to learn that your defense creates your offense," the senior said. "We need to play hard defense. We can't trade baskets with anyone."
But as Goestenkors' calm demeanor showed, the postseason is still several weeks away and yesterday's game may have been just the thing to make her team peak at the right time.
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