Abby Waner came to Duke as a phenom, having won several high school National Player of the Year awards. But 16 games into her college career, Waner was coming off the bench and her confidence had been shaken.
She played well the rest of the season, but never up to her own expectations, she said. Then, before the second round of the NCAA Tournament, she and head coach Gail Goestenkors had a chat, in which the coach compared herself to Waner.
"She said that we both expect the most out of ourselves and when we don't [get it], we go even lower than we were before," Waner said. "It was really good to have that talk with her. I feel like I can just go out and have fun and let things go. Once it started to be fun, I started to loosen up and play the way I can."
And in the last three games, Waner's play has taken off. The freshman has averaged 11 points while shooting 50 percent from the field and 39 percent from beyond the arc.
In the Blue Devils' overtime victory against Connecticut, Waner played a season-high 36 minutes and contributed in several areas.
"Abby was huge for us," Goestenkors said. "It wasn't just her 10 points. I think it was the way she carried herself on the court. She played with so much confidence and really great freedom."
Waner is not the only Blue Devil to have picked up her game come Tournament time. Starting center Alison Bales has transformed from being a defensive role player to a force at the offensive end. She said she knows her team relies on her to make her 15-foot jump shot consistently.
After a 15-point, 13-rebound and eight-block performance against the Huskies, Bales was named the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Bridgeport Regional.
"She knew her teammates needed her to win the game," Goestenkors said. "Ever since the Maryland loss in the ACC Tournament, she's been a different player every single practice and every single game."
Entering Duke's matchup against LSU, Bales knows she will need to play as large a role as she has in recent games to compete with the Tigers' star forward Sylvie Fowles.
Fowles, a 6-foot-6 sophomore, averages more than 16 points and almost 12 rebounds per game. She also shoots better than 61 percent from the field, a number that Bales knows she'll have to bring down.
"She's a great player," Bales said of Fowles. "I think we really need to keep it a priority keeping her off the boards, especially offensively."
Goestenkors kept up with that theme, noting that rebounding is one of the areas in which Duke will need to excel in order to cut down the nets Tuesday night.
"We were out-rebounded three of our last four games [of the regular season]," Goestenkors said. "That was a strength of ours throughout the season. We were ranked third in the country in rebounding. So we got back to the basics-specifically rebounding-and now in the Tournament we are out-rebounding people by over 22 rebounds a game. So in my mind, it's been all good."
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