ORLANDO, Fla. -- Maybe it's the national television coverage; maybe it's the top-10 opponent.
Whatever the reason, the No. 14 Duke women's basketball team has performed up to its ambitious preseason expectations in its biggest contests of the year, and Sunday's convincing 76-64 win over No. 6 Louisiana Tech in the Honda Elite Four Holiday Classic was no exception.
"I think that they like to play on TV," Duke coach Gail Goestenkors said. "I guess that's a good thing because the ACC and NCAA tournament games will be televised."
After several inconsistent games that included disappointing losses to Toledo and then-unranked South Carolina, Duke (5-2) found its stride Sunday, shooting 52 percent from the field while holding the Lady Techsters (2-2) to 39 percent for the game.
The Blue Devils broke Louisiana Tech's 47-game streak of holding its opponents to under 50 percent shooting. The last team to accomplish that feat against the Lady Techsters was Connecticut in January 2000.
Duke, led by sophomore All-American candidate Alana Beard, trailed only once in the game, as Louisiana Tech's Essence Perry scored her only points of the afternoon on the game's opening play.
After falling behind 2-0, Beard found a wide-open Winter Whitely underneath the basket for one of her career-high
"I felt like it was my responsibility to come out and start the team off on a good foot," Beard said. "I didn't do a good job of that in the games we lost against Toledo and South Carolina."
Beard finished the first half with six assists and 14 points on seven of eight shooting from the field, while forcing Perry to commit five turnovers with only one assist.
"[Alana] just played a great game, so I'd like to compliment her and the entire Duke team," Louisiana Tech coach Leon Barmore said. "She's a great asset to the women's game and she'll just get better and better."
If the first half belonged to Beard, then the second half belonged to junior forward Iciss Tillis and freshman Monique Currie, who finished with a game-high 19 points.
Tillis, who scored 12 of her 16 points in the second stanza despite briefly leaving the court after taking a blow to the forehead, limited Louisiana Tech's Naismith Player of the Year candidate Ayana Walker to just 12 points and six rebounds. Walker had been averaging over 19 points and seven boards over the team's first three games.
"[Ayana] was their team's go-to player so we just wanted to limit her touches and try to keep her off the offensive glass because that's pretty much her game," Tillis said.
When the Lady Techsters drew to within five points after a few quick baskets to start the second half, Tillis almost single-handedly took control of the game. Her strong score in the post, an offensive rebound, two three-point baskets and an unselfish pass to freshman Winter Whitely gave the Blue Devils an 11-point lead and essentially ended any threat of a Louisiana Tech comeback.
In a surprise move by Goestenkors, sophomore point guard Vicki Krapohl was given the first start of her Duke career, replacing senior Krista Gingrich in the lineup. Krapohl played a very solid game, committing only one turnover and collecting three rebounds in 23 minutes of play.
"[Vicki] is in better shape than almost anyone on the team," Goestenkors said. "She just doesn't make mistakes. We don't need our point guard to be a star. We just need them to take care of the ball. For this type of pressure situation and her first start, I think she did a tremendous job."
Duke will need to maintain the consistency that it showed today, as a nationally televised match up with No. 2 Tennessee looms at the end of December.
"If we play like we played today, we should be very successful this year," Currie said.
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