A sign in the crowd behind Marquette's bench read, "All the Pressure's on Duke," and for most of Tuesday night's second-round NCAA Tournament matchup between the top-seeded and first-ranked Blue Devils and the 9th-seeded Golden Eagles, both teams played accordingly. But like countless teams before it, Marquette got a little more Alana Beard than it could handle, and as a result the Golden Eagles will head home while the Blue Devils travel to Norfolk, Va., for their seventh consecutive Sweet Sixteen berth.
Despite turning the ball over a season-high 26 times and allowing Marquette to hang within striking distance throughout the game, Duke emerged with an uneasy 76-67 victory in the final home game for Beard and fellow seniors Iciss Tillis and Vicki Krapohl. While satisfying, the win wasn't nearly as convincing as Duke coach Gail Goestenkors would have liked from a team that has national championship aspirations.
"We're just happy to come away with a win," Goestenkors said. "I thought [Marquette] played an excellent game, they just played their hearts out.... Obviously, we didn't take good care of the basketball.... We'll have to really improve in that area in the next couple of days."
The tone for the game was set from the opening tip. The Golden Eagles went toe-to-toe with the Blue Devils for close to eight minutes, using their trademark zone defense to force Duke to settle for outside shots. Meanwhile, Marquette continually pushed the ball inside, victimizing Duke's interior defense. With 13:40 to go in the first half, Marquette forward Crystal Weaver got free underneath the basket and converted an easy layup to pull the Golden Eagles to within 15-14.
"I don't think [our players] understood the magnitude of that defense," Goestenkors said. "They knew it was a good matchup, but we played so many zones over the course of the year [successfully], so I think they thought we'd be fine. I don't think until you're out there and you experience it can you appreciate how good that zone really is."
The Blue Devils responded to the Marquette zone by stepping up their own defensive pressure in an attempt to get into a fast-paced transition game, thereby neutralizing the zone. Following Weaver's layup, Duke forward Monique Currie converted a three-point play, and then Beard took over. The senior, who tallied 30 points, registered a steal and a transition layup, and then drew a charge on the ensuing possession. After point guard Lindsey Harding buried a 15-foot jumper from the baseline, the Duke lead was up to 22-14, and Marquette was forced to call a timeout.
"A [big] part of our game is transition," Beard said. "We create a lot off of our defensive transition. I think they probably felt like they couldn't stop everything, so they thought they could come down and stop us in the half-court set."
Duke's lead never shrunk to below six for the rest of the contest, though the Golden Eagles refused to let the Blue Devils pull away. The final scare for Duke came in the last two minutes, after Marquette pulled to within 68-61 with 1:16 remaining. However, Harding sank four consecutive foul shots, and the Blue Devils could breathe a sigh of relief.
Duke received a big surprise contribution from reserve center Brittany Hunter, who has seen only limited action due to the lingering effects of a knee injury suffered in November. Hunter didn't even know if she could play until moments before the game, didn't enter the game until the second half, and wasn't supposed to play more than a few minutes, but she managed to give the Blue Devils the post presence they had sorely lacked in the first half. Hunter tallied 12 points and six rebounds in only 13 minutes.
Duke will now have a week to digest its anxious victory and prepare for a difficult Sweet Sixteen matchup with fourth-seeded Louisiana Tech.
"I guess it was frustrating," Currie said. "[But] I think we're all proud that we stuck together and pulled out a win. You're not going to blow out everybody, so you have to be able to play in close games."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.