Duke falls to Minnesota

NORFOLK, Va. -- A Minnesota fan held a sign up that read: "The Mississippi starts in Minnesota and ends in New Orleans. Coincidence?" Apparently not.

    The Golden Gophers are on their way to Louisiana, becoming the first ever seventh seed and the lowest seed since 1998 to advance to the Final Four following a 82-75 victory over No. 1 seed Duke Tuesday night. Coming into the tournament ranked first in the Associated Press poll, the Blue Devils were denied a trip to their third consecutive Final Four and a chance at their first national championship.

Realizing that she had played her final minutes after four spectacular years at Duke, Alana Beard, the program's most decorated player and first woman to have her number retired in Cameron Indoor Stadium, cried on head coach Gail Goestenkors' shoulder upon exiting the game just seconds before its conclusion.

    "You guys don't understand how it feels to go out there every single year thinking you're going to win the national championship and it doesn't go your way," said fellow senior Iciss Tillis who also exited the game crying just moments before Beard. "It hurts. It's really painful."

    But in the end, Minnesota outplayed the Blue Devils, ending a season that began with high expections.

    As for the Janel McCarville-Mistie Bass matchup, while Bass was racking up points at the post--with 11 in the first half to lead Duke--McCarville was doing that and then some. After the first half McCarville had contributed seven points, four assists and 12 rebounds. She was just as dangerous as she was predicted to be and even less containable.

    In addition, when McCarville was crowded inside, Minnesota's offense was quickly balanced by Whalen, who demonstrated exactly what the Gophers had missed in her five and a half week absence during the regular season due to a hand injury. With flawless backdoor drives, Whalen led Minnesota in scoring in the first half with 10 points.

    "She made the good plays when it counted," said Beard, who defended her. "That's the biggest part of her game is finding the lane.... She made the big plays and she did a great job."

    Duke came into the second half with some minor changes that came as a big relief. The Blue Devils went from zone defense to tight man-to-man, giving their offense a little more breathing room to catch up on the scoreboard. With two fouls on Mistie Bass, Duke head coach Gail Goestenkors put freshman Brittany Hunter on McCarville, who was predicted to be the Gopher's largest weapon. McCarville had already exceeded her expectations in the first half. But, coming off the bench, Hunter pulled down two rebounds--one on each end--scored two buckets and a put-back, and forced McCarville to turnover the ball when the Blue Devils were within four.

    Shortly after Hunter's entry, Monique Currie sunk a short turnaround jumper over her defender. More importantly, during her next drive to the basket, Currie laid into McCarville for a conventional three-point play that gave McCarville her fourth foul and sent her to the bench. With the center on the sidelines, the lane was a bit more open for Duke's guards to drive.

    "This year we thought we really had it," sophomore point guard Lindsey Harding said in the tense Duke locker room after the game. "Last year we thought Monique was the missing link, and obviously she played extremely well but it just wasn't our time. We couldn't make things fall."

    Again, Duke was stunted and Minnesota was able to pull away.

"They hit all cylinders," Goestenkors said. "They did a great job on defense and they hit their shots. Every time we made a run and tried to turn it they'd come back and make a huge three. I thought they just made huge threes and that really gave them the momentum they needed."

The game became one of cat and mouse: The Gophers pulling away and the Blue Devils chasing after them. Minnesota had an immediate response to Currie's big play before the timeout and scored seven consecutive points in a minute and half with no response on the other end of the court. Duke was forced to call another timeout at 10:08 and, thanks to five free throws and a trey by Vicki Krapohl, the Blue Devils climbed their way back to within two by the next timeout at 7:35, and finally found themselves on level playing ground, with the score knotted at 59.

But the final minute of the game was the same old story. After battling it out for six minutes, Duke found itself within two with 1:02 left on the game clock. Whalen played big again, weaving by the Blue Devils' stagnant full court press and sunk a layup. Beard missed a three with 47.8 seconds left and Duke was forced to foul McCarville, who sunk 1-of-2 free throws. Tillis knocked down a short jumper in the paint to make it a one possession game again before fouling out on the next press, which led to two more free throws from Whalen. From 75-70, the Blue Devils hit two more shots and Minnesota went 7-for-8 from the line.

    Duke's field goal percentage improved to 60.7 percent in the second half but it was too little too late: They were simply outdone in too many areas and the team returns to Durham without an invite to the Final Four.

    "I am just disappointed for them," Goestenkors said. "I think we wanted to win a national championship for them. I feel so badly for them more than anything."