AUSTIN, Texas - In a game in which head coach Gail Goestenkors pleaded with her team multiple times to "get tough" in the first half, the play got awfully tough in the second period.
With less than 13 minutes remaining and No. 1 Duke (6-0) beginning to extend its one-point halftime lead, senior Monique Currie led with her elbow while fighting through a screen, sending Texas forward Earnesia Williams to the ground and drawing an intentional foul. As Williams was getting up, the freshman pushed Currie, eliciting a technical foul call from the referees.
The minor scuffle turned an already loud Longhorn crowd of more than 8,000 fans hostile and seemed to reenergize the Texas players. Following two made free throws by both teams, the Longhorns (3-3) went on a 9-4 spurt to tie the game at 61, forcing a Blue Devil timeout.
"At that point, we knew we needed to settle down a little bit and run our sets on offense and just get a stop one at a time," Currie said. "I think our experience helped and we were able to play calm and poised and get good shots."
Duke showed the grit of a top team after the timeout, clamping down defensively and relying on 10 points from Currie down the stretch to outlast No. 16 Texas 84-70. The play continued to be physical with several players hitting the deck hard, but the Blue Devils capitalized by shooting 8-for-10 from the free throw line in the last six minutes to maintain their lead. Duke also held the Longhorns to just 3-for-15 shooting and forced five turnovers in the last 9:40.
"They did pick it up defensively, and we just didn't match their intensity on the defensive end," Texas guard Nina Norman said. "[Currie] ran the break really well, and she got a couple easy baskets on the fast break."
Currie finished with a game-high 23 points, shooting just 7-for-17 from the field but a perfect 9-for-9 from the charity stripe. Mistie Williams added a season-high 14 points despite playing just five minutes in the first half because of foul trouble.
Texas came into the game reeling from an embarrassing 41-point loss at No. 2 Tennessee Thursday. The Longhorns, however, did not back down from the top-ranked Blue Devils and looked much more deserving of their ranking, something Duke players said they expected.
"With the way that the game against Tennessee turned out, I knew they were going to come out fighting and battling-and that's what they did," Goestenkors said. "When you've got a team that has the pride and the tradition-and they are also extremely talented and they are at home-it's a very dangerous combination."
Duke started the game in the full-court pressure it had been utilizing in its first five games of the season but gave up on the strategy early after Texas repeatedly broke the press with ease. The Blue Devils' defense in the first half was the worst of the season, as Texas scored 38 points while shooting 56 percent from the floor. Duke still managed to take a lead into halftime, grabbing seven offensive rebounds and forcing 12 turnovers.
"I thought we did a better job in the second half, but in the first half I didn't feel like we took anything away from Texas," Goestenkors said. "We let them run their sets, we let them penetrate and break us down. Really we just weren't on the same page defensively."
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