The last time the women's basketball team faced Northwestern State, in Alana Beard's Louisiana homecoming game Dec. 20, 2003, the Demons were completely overmatched in a 105-53 loss. The Blue Devils, who are the top seed in the Mideast region of the NCAA women's tournament, will face 16th seed Northwestern State (24-6) in a first round matchup Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
But while the rematch offers the Blue Devils even more advantages than the original--the game will be played in Cameron Indoor Stadium, where Duke has won its last 10 tournament games--the team has been careful not to look past the Southland Conference champions.
"They're a much improved team," head coach Gail Goestenkors said. "Their loss to us was really a wakeup call for them and really caused them to improve a great deal.... You can't afford to overlook anybody at this point. We're going to constantly be playing teams that have nothing to lose, so we'll be prepared for them."
One of the main reasons for Northwestern State's progression since its loss to Duke has been the return to form of three-time NCAA assists leader La'Terrica Dobin. The senior and Southland Conference Player of the Year had just returned from injury when she faced the Blue Devils. While Dobin did hand out nine assists in 39 minutes, she was far from top form, shooting only 3-of-15 and committing 14 turnovers.
The main beneficiaries of Dobin's passing have been high-scoring forward Amanda Bennett and guard Diamond Cosby, Beard's former AAU teammate. While Bennett scored 23 points against the Blue Devils, Cosby was harassed into only seven points on 3-of-10 shooting.
One major area where Duke should have an advantage over the Demons is in the paint. Northwestern State's only two players taller than 6 feet combined for only one point and five rebounds in the teams' last meeting, as the Blue Devils punished the Demons on the boards by a 58-26 margin. Duke's pressing defense could also cause problems for Northwestern State, which turned the ball over 26 times in their last meeting.
"We know first-hand how powerful the Duke basketball team is... but that's the hand we've been dealt and we're going to make the most of it," Northwestern State head coach James Smith said.
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