In a thrilling overtime contest Sunday, South Carolina (4-0) stunned No. 7 Duke 87-81 in the championship game of the Duke Women's Classic, as the host Blue Devils (3-2) fell to a visiting foe for the first time in the tournament's 10-year history.
South Carolina's Kelly Morrone sank all eight of the three-point shots she attempted in regulation, the last of which tied the game at 72-72 with 18 seconds remaining, sending the contest into overtime. Tournament MVP Shaunzinski Gortman then scored 11 of her 25 points in the extra session, leading the Gamecocks to a dramatic upset.
"You could see the confidence in our team [in overtime]," South Carolina coach Susan Walvius said.
"We knew we had fought for 40 minutes to be in that situation, and we weren't going to go away," the coach said.
For the second straight week, the Blue Devils lost to an unranked opponent, leaving Duke coach Gail Goestenkors tremendously disappointed, particularly with her team's end-of-game execution.
"We had a lead and then we just threw the ball into the stands," she said. "We had some unbelievable mental lapses."
In Toledo's upset last Sunday over the Blue Devils, the Rockets collapsed the middle on defense, daring Duke to beat them with jump shots. Despite the success of such a strategy, South Carolina never considered duplicating it.
"It wasn't our philosophy at all, actually," Walvius said. "Our philosophy was to play South Carolina defense--try to be more aggressive, and don't sit back. We wanted to go at Duke."
South Carolina's defensive schemes forced the Blue Devils into shooting only 41 percent from the floor, a significant turnaround for a squad that had shot a school-record 67 percent in its 107-58 blowout over Davidson in the tournament's first round.
"We were determined not to be motivated offensively tonight," Walvius said. "We were determined to be motivated defensively, and even though things didn't always go well for us offensively, for the most part we got our defensive job done. That's why we won the game."
South Carolina's tough defense allowed it to survive a shaky offensive output. The Gamecocks turned the ball over a staggering 32 times.
"For us to take the next step as a big-time team, we have got to take better care of the basketball," Walvius said. "Some of our turnovers were just careless."
Despite frequent mental mistakes, South Carolina jumped in front midway through the first half, seizing a lead it wouldn't relinquish until less than 90 seconds remained in regulation.
The Gamecocks remained ahead largely because of Morrone's amazing shooting performance. The Sophomore finished with 27 points on 9-of-12 shooting.
"It's a shooter's court," she said. "Those were great rims."
Despite her hot hand, Morrone never appeared to force a shot, choosing instead to patiently wait for an open opportunity.
"When you have players like Shaun Gortman and Teresa Geter, they attract a ton of attention," Morrone said. "They can take the ball to the hole and score every time, and I'd rather give them the ball, knowing what they can do, then take a shot."'
Morrone's effort was all the more impressive as she was usually guarded by Duke's Alana Beard, touted as the country's best defender. After the game, the despondent sophomore attempted to shoulder much of the blame for Duke's shocking loss.
"It was my fault," Beard said with tears in her eyes. "She was hot but I should have played tougher defense on her."
Morrone's crucial game-tying three-pointer came only seconds after Duke's Iciss Tillis missed an uncontested lay-up at the opposite end of the floor.
Tillis delivered an overall strong performance Sunday, scoring 19 points and pulling down 11 rebounds. Indeed, she and freshman Monique Currie--who scored a career-high 22 points off the bench--carried Duke offensively for much of the game. Unfortunately, Tillis' inability to finish enabled Morrone to have the opportunity to tie the score.
Her coach, however, refused to pin the loss on Tillis' last-minute blunder.
"Certainly, Iciss feels badly because she missed that shot, but we didn't lose the game because of one missed lay-up," Goestenkors said. "We don't dwell on one play of the game because it never comes down to that."
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