Elon head coach Brenda Paul summed up Friday's women's basketball game perfectly with one word: "woo!"
Duke dominated at Cameron Indoor Stadium Friday night with a 108-26 win over the Elon Phoenix. The 82-point margin was the largest ever for Duke.
The scoring parade featured six Blue Devils in double figures, led by Alana Beard with 19 points. Monique Currie scored 16 points; Mistie Bass and Brittany Hunter recorded 15 each; Lindsey Harding's six-for-six shooting from the floor netted her 14 points; and Iciss Tillis added 13. Friday's game was the first double-double of Bass' career, with her 15 points and career-high 10 rebounds. The rebounding figure was especially exciting for Bass.
"I have had problems with rebounding since I have been to college, so this is not so much the double-double I'm [proud of], but basically the rebounding," Bass said. "It is a good thing to see that I can rebound."
The Phoenix had more turnovers, 35, than they had points, which led to Duke scoring 48 points off turnovers.
With the large margin, Duke's mission was staying focused on playing well and keeping up its game.
"It is important to get your intensity up from the start of the game and not to relax at any time," sophomore Jessica Foley said. "So you just do not look at the scoreboard all game and pretend that every possession was as important as the first."
Duke head coach Gail Goestenkors thought the team succeeded at this.
"I think we really maintained our level of intensity, and stayed focused, even with such a lead," Goestenkors said.
To become more disciplined during the second half, the Blue Devils employed a five-pass rule, which meant the team had to make five passes before taking a shot. The rule led to an improved shooting percentage, but fewer shots taken, in the second half. Overall, Duke had a 57.9 shooting percentage, while Elon shot 25 percent.
For Duke, the win was a great way to kick off its home schedule after a tough loss last weekend to current-No. 2 Texas.
"It was good to take out some of our frustrations, and improve on some of the aspects of the game that we weren't doing as well as we needed to in the Texas game," Goestenkors said.
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