Wednesday night, an ice storm hit Durham and most of North Carolina, knocking out electricity statewide.
If the storm hasn't been named yet, "Ice Storm Blue Devil Women's Basketball" would be a great choice.
After the shooting performance given by the women's basketball team this weekend en route to winning the 15th annual Duke Women's Basketball Classic, it is clear that the team really knows how to shoot the lights out.
Just ask the Howard Lady Bison (0-7) and the St. Joseph's Hawks (2-3).
The No. 1 Blue Devils (7-0) stampeded the Lady Bison Friday night, 128-53, behind the force of a collective team effort, setting school records for points in a game, field goals (51), assists (35) and points in a half-with 68 in the final 20 minutes of play. Iciss Tillis celebrated her 21st birthday by leading the team in scoring and rebounding with 22 points and 10 rebounds, while recording her 14th career double-double.
Duke returned to action Sunday afternoon against St. Joe's, defeating them 82-48. This time out it was one person-Alana Beard-who enabled the Blue Devils to get past the Hawks. Beard, who was named to the all-tournament team along with Tillis and the tournament MVP, finished
Following the game, Duke head coach Gail Goestenkors, who spent Thursday night in her office after her house lost power in Wednesday's storm, expressed mixed emotions about the victory.
"I am happy to come away with a win," Goestenkors said. "[I was] not that impressed with the way we played, but I give St. Joe's a lot of credit for that. I thought we were able to wear them down a bit. I give a lot of credit to our bench. I thought they did a great job of putting pressure on the ball.
"Overall, we had 21 turnovers, which is not acceptable, but I thought we did a good job in the second half of sharing the ball a little bit more. I thought we were trying to go a little bit too much one-on-one in the first half, so I thought we got better through the game, and I think that is really important."
After watching her team let a 14-point halftime lead slip to eleven because of a turnover and sloppy play, Goestenkors called a timeout and berated her players three minutes into the second half.
"I was very upset with the team," Goestenkors said. "It is just not acceptable to come out in the second half and turn the ball over. To me, that is lack of focus. That is when we really need to put teams away in that first five minutes of the second half."
The Blue Devils responded to their coach, going on a 22-4 spurt, blowing the game open en route to a thirty-four point victory.
Big spurts were the theme from Friday's game as well, as Duke took advantage of 28-0 and 12-0 runs to run away from the Lady Bison.
In her first career start, Mistie Bass, posted 19 points and 7 rebounds, both career highs.
In addition, Duke's bench outscored Howard 58-53.
"We gave some good minutes early on, in terms of trying to figure it out, and we got some things going," Howard head coach Cathy Parsons said. "Of course, it is very difficult when your average-sized person is the size of a [Duke] guard.... I applaud my team for the effort they gave because they never gave up. It was evident that we gave our best shot, but it was just a situation where we were truly outmanned. Against a team with similar size and athletic ability, maybe they will show some weakness, but against Howard University, there is no lack."
Duke returns to action home against Charleston Southern Dec. 16.
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