In a night filled with nostalgia for the women's basketball team, the Blue Devils were only looking toward the future. On what was both Senior Night, as well as the last home game of the regular season, Duke (22-3, 15-0 in the ACC) handily defeated the Florida State Seminoles (13-12, 4-11) 88-55.
The Blue Devils overwhelmed FSU from the start--outscoring the Seminoles 16-7 by the first official timeout at 15:05. After a struggle for the ball in the Florida State zone, Duke freshman Monique Currie took the ball off sophomore Iciss Tillis' rebound and hit a three-pointer to start Duke's scoring rampage.
The closest Florida State came to tying the game after the initial 2-2 tie in the opening minutes occurred when Seminole junior guard Shinikki Whiting hit two foul shots at 12:18 to narrow the Duke lead to four, making the score 18-14. However, Duke scored on the next possession, and the Seminoles never got that close again. FSU went for four minutes and six consecutive possessions without scoring, while Duke exploded with an 11-point run.
"I thought the team did a good job with execution," Duke coach Gail Goestenkors said. "I think every game and every practice we're trying to improve. We take what our opponent gives us. We've thrown alley-oops in many close games. If it's there, we've got the players that can execute that play."
Duke returned in the second half just as ready and energetic as it was at the start of the contest, as Currie quickly hit a shot on the Blue Devils' first possession.
Speaking of nostalgia, Duke sophomore Alana Beard tallied her 1,000th-career point in dramatic fashion Thursday night. With 12:19 remaining, she stole the ball and sprinted down the court for a flying fast-break layup, making the score 68-38.
Beard is the 15th 1,000-point scorer in Duke history, becoming the third-quickest in the ACC to achieve that mark. However, the sophomore downplayed its significance.
"People score 1,000 points and they don't win a game," Beard said. "It's all about winning, and I could care less about points. I couldn't do it without my teammates."
For Florida State, freshman Linnea Liljestrand proved to be the cornerstone of her young team. Liljestrand led the squad with 22 points and was the only Seminole to score in double figures.
The lone weak element in the Blue Devils' game was rebounding. Duke pulled down only 39 rebounds to the Seminoles' 48. Most notably, Duke surrendered 24 offensive rebounds. Although Tillis and Wynter Whitley each grabbed a team-high eight rebounds, as a collective unit, the Blue Devils struggled to box out.
"[The game] really showed us an area that we need to improve on, which is defensive rebounding," Goestenkors said. "It's very frustrating, especially on the offensive end... so that's something that we will have to rectify quickly, because Carolina is such a great offensive rebounding team."
Duke freshman Whitley also had a strong game Thursday. She had a career night, scoring 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field.
"I thought Wynter came in and gave us great minutes," Goestenkors said. "I thought she played one of her best games of the year."
The first half ended in appropriate fashion, with the Blue Devils' lone senior, Gingrich, hitting a shot with just two seconds remaining. With 1:29 left in the second half, Gingrich left the game to a standing ovation from the crowd and multiple congratulations from her teammates.
In a sense, Gingrich not only left the contest, but her playing career at Cameron Indoor Stadium as well.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.