Duke proved it has a defense good enough to win games. The Blue Devils' tough defensive efforts muted Wake Forest on the offensive end of the court, holding the Deacons to a mere 30.6 percent shooting average. With five minutes left in the first half, only two Wake players had scored and Duke had tallied seven blocks--it finished with 14 total, a new school record.
With this kind of dominance on the defensive end in the first half, the Blue Devils were able to offset a more aggressive offensive attack in the second half, specifically getting many more inside looks.
"I thought our defense was pretty good. I thought we gave a lot of help and we usually don't go for that many blocks. We usually try to take more charges. It just so happened tonight we were blocking a lot of shots," head coach Gail Goestenkors said. "Sometimes our defense helped to create our offense, but we didn't seem to get out on transition the way we normally do in the first half."
With 16:44 on the clock, Wake Forest center Melissa Washington went up against Mistie Bass for a layup and was rejected. Bass deflected the shot to Monique Currie, who threw a lead pass to Alana Beard. Then it was just up to Beard to do her thing--she drove to the paint and put up a power layup to make it 50-27 in favor of Duke.
The Blue Devils outscored the Deacons in the paint 44-24 and 20-12 in points off turnovers. At 52-27, Duke was still creating turnovers, setting a trap on the ball at the half court line, forcing point guard Porsche Jones to lose control of her dribble and another layup opportunity the next time down for Iciss Tillis.
Tillis models the offensive-yielding defense concept on a more individual level. After being benched for the last week due to a concussion, Tillis came back last night playing like she did at the beginning of the year before her offensive freeze. This is the third time all year Tillis has scored over 20 points and it had mostly to do with a great defensive effort and an increased number of open looks in the post.
Tillis had all four of her blocks and two steals in the first half. Her defensive consistency allowed for eight points off turnovers and eventually led to an offensive run that was much hotter than what she's been laying down recently.
"I'm feeling more comfortable inside and I was trying to get more opportunities to seal," Tillis said. "I was watching Mistie [Bass] and what she does in practices, posting up and trying to get opportunities to seal and it was working."
With 16 minutes left to play, Tillis ripped the ball out of the hands of Wake Forest's Elizabeth Strunk and after dribbling down center court found Bass open under the basket for the easy layup. The next time down, it was Tillis under the basket; after pulling down a defensive board, Beard found Tillis inside the post defense for the inside bucket.
With the teams they've been up against, with the exception of UConn and Tennessee, The Blue Devils' defensive efforts are enough to win them games. Even if their offense comes out sub-par, they have the defensive strength to maintain control of the game long enough to heat up.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.