The 2001-2002 women's basketball team enjoyed playing Wake Forest. That Blue Devil team destroyed the Demon Deacons by 55 and 23 point margins of victory in their two meetings. With all its players back minus one graduated reserve and an injured starter-not to mention an influx of four McDonald's all-Americans-Duke was expected to once again toy with their Tobacco Road rival.
Not so fast.
Despite repeatedly jumping out to double-digit leads against Wake Forest Thursday night in Cameron Indoor Stadium, the Blue Devils found themselves clinging to a 61-59 lead with less than a minute left. Facing a stunning upset squarely in the face, the nation's No.1 squad did not blink, as Duke rallied behind the clutch play of Michelle Matyasovsky and Alana Beard to pull out a 71-61 victory.
"Every year, even if you return all your players and all of your starters, it's a different team," Duke head coach Gail Goestenkors said. "Different people get better. Some people get injured. So, what you have to work with is what you need to try to suit your offenses and your defenses to."
For the fourth straight game the still undefeated Blue Devils (16-0, 4-0 in the ACC), found themselves trailing during the second half. After being in control for much of the opening half, Duke picked up play after the break with five quick points, all from the do-everything Beard, to seize a 40-30 lead.
The Deacons rallied furiously, though. Eafton Hill, Cotelia Bond-Young and Erin Ferrell all struck from long-range in a two-minute span, as Wake Forest (10-5, 1-4) launched a perimeter assault that Duke could not defend. At the first media timeout, at the 15:41 mark, the Blue Devils found themselves trailing 41-40, and on the receiving end of an 11-0 run.
"I think we surprised them with the people who shot the three's," Wake Forest head coach Charlene Curtis said. "I think we had different people shooting the ball which is what we did earlier in the year when we were shooting the ball very well."
Duke found itself in a depressingly all too common scenario: Trailing an unranked foe and having Beard carrying an a huge share of Duke's scoring load-the All-American was responsible for 19 of Duke's 40 points up to that point.
The Blue Devils managed to find some balance over the next few minutes, as Vicki Krapohl, Iciss Tillis and Matyasovsky all helped out in pushing Duke's lead back to nine. Beard would end up with 29 points, six of which came from the free thrown line during Duke's game closing 10-2 run in the final minute.
Wake Forest refused to give up. They repeatedly trimmed the Blue Devils' lead only to have Duke re-extend it, up until the final minute when Demon Deacon forward Tiffani Listenbee put in a put back with 1:11 left to play and reducing the lead a single bucket.
As the second half wore on, the two squads looked increasingly like polar opposites. The underdog visitors ran up and down the sidelines with a spring in their step, their bench leaping after every clutch basket. Conversely, Duke looked vapid and emotionally hollow. Despite being on its home floor, the Blue Devils appeared to be playing a passionless game, a phenomenon growing more and more alarming to the nation's top-ranked squad.
"It concerns us because we want to get better every time we step on the court, and it seems like sometimes we're headed in the wrong direction," Beard said. "Coach G has been saying that we need more emotion for the past four or five games. We've just been out there to be out there.... We're not jumping in each others arms like we used to."
Goestenkors, whose frustration with her side visibly boiled over after halftime when, after finding herself catching an errant pass that resulted in a Duke turnover, she slammed the game ball 12 feet off the floor.
"I feel like we're just going in spurts right now," Goestenkors said. "Every game we've had spurts of greatness but that's not going to get it done.
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