Duke began Thursday night's matchup with Team Reebok hoping to work out some last-minute kinks before the official start of the season. With a dominating 88-56 finish, this team made one thing loud and clear-they're ready.
Using various combinations throughout the game, the Blue Devils put on an offensive display in Cameron Indoor Stadium. They made 49.3-percent of their shots, including an impressive 52.6-percent from the 3-point line. Junior Abby Waner led the way for Duke, shooting four-of-six from beyond the arc. Head coach Joanne P. McCallie attributed the success on the outside to her team's focus on moving the ball inside.
"The key is for our guards to make sure our posts get touches and create off of that," McCallie said. "As our post players do some good things around the basket, that opens up a tremendous amount on the perimeter. We just want to play from the inside-out."
With the game already well in Duke's favor midway through the second half, sophomore Keturah Jackson found senior Wanisha Smith wide open on the wing for a 3-point shot. After Reebok's Leah Metcalf failed to answer back, the two Blue Devils switched roles with Smith assisting Jackson down low. Duke kept the intensity going, scoring on the team's next two possessions and putting the game well out of reach at 79-47.
Smith demonstated her senior leadership early, pacing the Blue Devils with 16 points and five assist and hitting all three of her 3-point attempts. Power forward Carrem Gay and center Chante Black dominated the post with a combined 18 points and 15 rebounds.
Duke did not play seamlessly, however. Jasmine Thomas made mistakes typical of an inexperienced point guard, and the freshman ended the game with 10 points and three assists. Despite having three turnovers, she emphasized the importance of not dwelling on the errors.
"I've been getting advice making sure I don't worry about the freshman mistakes I may make," Thomas said. "I just have to play hard and do what I can do and everything will come to me. We're working on this 'next-play' mentality, which is really helpful because you can't worry about the past, you've just got to move on."
But Duke was able to overcome its carelessness by forcing Reebok to make mistakes of its own. The Blue Devils recorded 12 steals while playing a man-to-man defense the entire game and also blocked five Reebok shots. The 5-foot-9 Thomas, the second-shortest Duke player, led the team with two rejections.
"Everybody was working so hard on the defensive end of the floor," McCallie said. "We worked extremely hard to hold them to 22 first-half points. Now, that's hard to do for two halves and they scored 34 points in the second half, which was a little bit more, but overall I thought the intensity was really good."
With no more exhibition games on their schedule, the Blue Devils will begin the regular season by heading out west to take on Denver Sunday at 6 p.m. The game will be a homecoming of sorts for Abby and Emily Waner, who originally hail from Colorado.
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