GREENSBORO, N.C. - Down by three with 18 seconds left, Lindsey Harding dribbled down the court looking to keep the Blue Devils undefeated season alive.
With 10 seconds left, Harding handed the ball off to Abby Waner, Duke's most dangerous three-point threat, who had shot 5-for-7 from behind the arc up to that point.
Despite having two Wolfpack defenders in her face and time to spare, Waner rushed the potentially game-tying shot from the top of the key. Instead of a swish, Waner's shot airballed to the left, setting off jubilation in both the stands and on N.C. State's sideline.
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"It was a stupid shot," Waner said. "It was a decent look, but I probably could have created a better look with eight seconds left on the clock, for me or for somebody else."
Glancing up at the scoreboard in disbelief, the Blue Devils realized that their perfect record- along with a shot at the ACC Tournament championship-was gone.
The No. 24 Wolfpack (23-9) hit a pair of free throws to clinch the shocking upset over No. 1 Duke (30-1), 70-65. N.C. State would go on to lose to No. 4 North Carolina 60-54 in the ACC Tournament final Sunday afternoon.
"This game to me was like a 15-round fight," Wolfpack head coach Kay Yow said. "We were on the ropes a lot, but at the end we were able to get the knockout."
After leading the Wolfpack by eight with six minutes to go, the Blue Devils did not record a field goal for the rest of the game. The poor shooting down the stretch was indicative of the team's larger offensive woes, as Duke had an earlier 12-minute field goal drought and ACC Player of the Year Lindsey Harding was only 3-for-13 from the field.
Still, Duke had its chances to close out a win at the end of the game.
With the Blue Devils ahead by one with just under two minutes to go, N.C. State's primary scoring threat, Ashley Key, drove under the basket for a reverse layup. Like she had done so many times over her career, Alison Bales used her 6-foot-7 length to stretch out and smack the shot down. Harding scooped up the loose ball, and the Blue Devils called timeout looking to retake control of the game.
Instead, things started to unravel quickly.
Freshman Joy Cheek threw a bad pass intended for Harding out of bounds, and the frustration showed as it had all day on Harding's disgusted face. Key immediately took advantage and nailed a running jumper in the left side of the lane with 1:18 left to give the Wolfpack a one-point lead. The excited crowd began screaming and jumping, with N.C. State, UNC and Maryland fans all celebrating in unison at the prospect of perhaps the biggest upset of the year.
"They just put their heads down and penetrated," Duke head coach Gail Goestenkors said. "It's something we've been focusing on and we're usually pretty good with, and just didn't do a good job today. They made us pay for it today."
Wanisha Smith looked to silence the crowd with a three, but her shot rimmed out of the basket. Fortunately for Duke, Cheek made up for her earlier mistake by grabbing the offensive rebound, and the Blue Devils called timeout with 50 seconds left.
Once again, though, Duke could not convert as Bales missed a layup in the post and the Wolfpack made both free throws, setting the stage for the game's conclusion.
After the buzzer sounded, N.C. State's players dived on the ACC logo at mid-court in celebration as the Blue Devils could do nothing but grimace and face the reality that for the first time this year-they had lost.
"It hurts my heart," Goestenkors said. "But we know that we'll learn from it and get better. So it's definitely better now than later."
NOTES:
Duke's 30-game winning streak was the best start in school and ACC history.... North Carolina, which came in as the No. 2 seed, won the ACC Tournament for the third consecutive year.
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