With 3:53 remaining in the second half against top-ranked UConn (10-1) Saturday, the women's basketball team finally decided to show up.
And those 233 seconds were all that the Blue Devils needed.
Coming out of the under-four-minute TV time out, Duke (10-1) went on a 18-3 tear, eclipsing UConn's 14-point lead with a last-second three-point shot by Jessica Foley. The 68-67 final score was the No. 4 team's first and only lead of the night.
The loss to Duke snaps UConn's 69-game home winning streak and breaks the Huskies' 36-game winning streak in the Hartford Civic Center.
The game was an otherwise miserable performance for the Blue Devils, who scored just 18 points in the first half and found themselves down by 20 on two occasions.
Alana Beard contributed most to the anemic offensive play, scoring only one point in the first half on 0-7 shooting from the field.
Duke's 21.9 percent first-half shooting continued through most of the second half.
Fueled by a strong full-court press, however, Coach Gail Goestenkors' squad came alive in the final few minutes of the game, thwarting the Huskies' offense and allowing them to advance across the half court only several times.
In the last 3:53, Duke forced six turnovers, including four steals, and Beard dropped in 11 of her game-high 21 points.
UConn star guard Diana Taurasi also struggled through most of the game, though she broke a 65-65 tie with a jumper with 4.7 seconds remaining.
With Duke out of timeouts, Lindsey Harding drove the ball all the way up the court and passed up a lay-up to find Foley waiting squared up, ready to take a three on the right side.
UConn's Ann Strother was able to put a hand in Foley's face, but the ball went in as the buzzer sounded, and the Blue Devils swarmed the court as a stunned Connecticut crowd and team looked on in disbelief.
EXTENSIVE COVERAGE LATER TONIGHT AND IN THE CHRONICLE'S FIRST ISSUE OF THE SECOND SEMESTER ON JANUARY 7....
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