When they last faced Maryland Jan. 14 in College Park, the Blue Devils were dominated on the glass and from the free-throw line and failed to come away with a win.
Sunday night in Cameron Indoor Stadium, both the story and the outcome were much of the same.
Duke was outrebounded 43-29, and Maryland took 33 foul shots as opposed to the Blue Devils' 11.
"That...is not something that can happen and have you still be successful against a top team," head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. "There is not one member of our team who got enough rebounds to be able to walk away and feel that they did so. And, until we commit to it and hold the belief system that these rebounds are going to determine games, that's going to hold us from getting to the highest level."
Even though Duke took 20 more shots than the Terrapins and outscored the visiting squad 36-32 in the paint, the team struggled to find its offensive groove as Maryland took away second-chance opportunities.
Duke junior Chante Black was only a rebound shy of recording a double-double, as she put up 11 points and pulled down nine rebounds. But she alone was no match for the Terrapins' attacking post presence.
Led by forwards Marissa Coleman and Crystal Langhorne-who combined for 40 points and 23 rebounds on the night-Maryland stuck to its game plan, which was so successful over a month ago. The Terrapins worked the ball inside throughout the contest and limited the Blue Devils' second-chance points to just 16, living up to their ranking as a top-five rebounding team.
"[Rebounding] was probably the difference when it was all said and done," Maryland's acting head coach Daron Park said. "We definitely were the aggressors to the boards. It was a concerted effort by our part all week to stress that when you go on the road, you have to do everything 10 times better than you do at home."
Bolstered by their 14-board advantage, the Terrapins were relentless in storming the basket and capitalized on one of the Blue Devils' most significant weaknesses this season. Duke has struggled consistently on the glass and entered Sunday night's contest ranked 251st nationally in rebounding margin.
Even when the Blue Devils were able to cut the lead to five points in the game's final three minutes, Maryland thwarted their comeback attempt by outrebounding them 8-2 to close the door.
Although the Blue Devils have made notable strides since their last performance against the Terrapins, McCallie continued to lament that the same aspects of the game are holding her team back, particularly as it faces the country's fifth toughest schedule.
But the coach believes her team's struggles in rebounding and foul shooting are just as much mental as they are physical.
"You've got to have the free throw attempts behind you. You've got to have the rebounding behind you," McCallie said. "Those are pretty fundamental to great success at the highest level. If you look at any of the top-five teams-we've played them all and now, I guess we're going to Round Two as we play them all-it's a consistent theme. We've got to want to be that."
If the Blue Devils don't want more of the same the next time they face another top team, especially in March, they have to find a way to mirror the top-tier teams on the glass.
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