POSTGAME THOUGHTS: An unfortunate recorder malfunction will prevent me from posting any quotes immediately, but suffice to say the feeling from the Duke locker room was that of exhilaration. While any team will say that they never underestimate their opponent, it's clear that the Blue Devils weren't prepared for this kind of offensive firepower from the Trojans. USC moved the ball incredibly well and Duke was lucky to emerge with a victory after digging themselves a late second-half hole. Nevertheless, after losing a tight battle to Hartford on the road early in the season and eking out a win against Western Kentucky, the Blue Devils have to be pleased with the way they fought back away from home.
The key to Duke's run was its ability to score in the paint. Make no mistake, the Blue Devils are not a jump-shooting team. When Chante Black dominates inside, Duke is a much better squad and that showed tonight. The Blue Devils finished with 10 more points in the paint than the Trojans and made their second-half run with 11 consecutive points inside.
My apologies to Abby Waner for calling her an offensive liability. She proved huge in the final minutes, knocking down a key three and scoring the tying basket. Her confidence as a scorer is a great asset for this Duke team. Jasmine Thomas' scoring touch was also very impressive tonight as she tied Black with a game-high 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting including two threes. Excluding two missed free throws at the end of overtime, Thomas played a marvelous game and the Blue Devils will need that kind of leadership on the court as Thomas is the best point guard on the roster.
Duke takes on Siena tomorrow night at 7 p.m. in the second game of the Women of Troy classic.
Duke 97-89, END OF GAME: What a finish for the Blue Devils. USC misses two free throws and Carrem Gay knocks down two on the other end to secure a victory that should have been a whole lot easier. Back with postgame notes and quotes from the Galen Center.
13.2 seconds, Duke 95-89, OVERTIME: Thomas missed a perfect opportunity to put the game out of reach, clanking two free throws and giving the Trojans hope. USC heads to the line to cut the lead.
35.8 seconds, Duke 95-89, OVERTIME: Black has been money for the Blue Devils down the stretch, sinking another two free throws to stretch the lead to six. Can Duke hold on?
53 seconds, Duke 93-89, OVERTIME: A Brynn Cameron 3-pointer has given life to the USC bench and the Galen Center crowd, but Thomas responds with a score of her own. Cameron comes back with two free throws and the Trojans steal the ball on the next possession.
2:49, Duke 89-84, OVERTIME: Duke is picking up right where it left off and exploiting its advantage inside as Black has five points in the extra period. The defense is still rock solid and Jasmine Thomas steals the ball and takes it all the way to give the Blue Devils a five-point cushion. USC must be in disbelief.
END OF SECOND HALF: Gay intercepts the inbounds and we're headed to overtime. You have to think that this will favor the Blue Devils, who made a furious rally and seem to have the momentum going into the extra session. However, both Christmas and Black are playing with four fouls.
3.4 seconds, 82-82, SECOND HALF: Waner fouls quick and USC misses the second free throw. Duke comes down and Waner comes through again to tie the game. This is eerily similar to last year's Penn State game. Can the Blue Devils hold on for overtime?
16.8 seconds, USC 81-80, SECOND HALF: Duke fouls and Ashley Corral makes one of two to put USC up four. But Waner comes up with her biggest play of the game, knocking down a long three to keep the Blue Devils alive.
27.1 seconds, USC 80-77, SECOND HALF: Christmas just knocked in a bucket off the inbounds to make it a one possession game, coming through in the clutch for the second game in a row. Can the Blue Devils get a stop?
1:09, USC 80-74, SECOND HALF: Christmas makes a great coast-to-coast drive to make it a two possession game, but the Blue Devils bail out the Trojans yet again by fouling late in the shot clock. Fortunately, USC misses both and Jasmine Thomas is at the foul line shooting two.
1:43, USC 79-72, SECOND HALF: The Trojans just broke the trap perfectly, getting an open baseline jumper to extend their lead to 10 before Black converted a three-point play for Duke. On the ensuing possession, USC grabs yet another offensive rebound and Waner is forced to foul.
2:59, USC 77-67, SECOND HALF: A 3-pointer by Abby Waner-her first points of the game-has the Blue Devils in striking distance. But it might be too little too late.
4:08, USC 77-64, SECOND HALF: Costly turnovers on three consecutive possessions for Duke and the Trojans are converting in the midst of an 8-0 run.
6:36, USC 71-64, SECOND HALF: The saying that defense creates offense is certainly holding true as the Blue Devils scored six straight points off of three consecutive steals. However, Duke still has no answer for USC's half-court offense as the Trojans scored easily on the only possession they were able to break the full-court trap.
7:42, USC 69-58, SECOND HALF: It's safe to say Duke hasn't done well without Black. The two teams are essentially trading baskets as the Blue Devils are repeatedly fouling and are well into the penalty. A 3-pointer from Karima Christmas-the hero of the Stanford game-cut the lead to 11 and Black is re-entering. Is there enough time for Duke to make a run?
10:45, USC 66-49, SECOND HALF: Brynn Cameron is ON FIRE and the Blue Devils have no answer for her long-range shooting. Duke has gone to its full-court press and is forcing turnovers but having the ball will do no good if they can't score.
11:43, USC 63-49, SECOND HALF: USC has taken over this game. A halftime tie is now a commanding 14-point lead as the Trojans are pushing the pace to exploit the Blue Devils in transition. Duke has made just one field goal in the period-a 3-pointer from Selby. The Blue Devils haven't fouled too much or turned the ball over frequently, but the shots just aren't falling. Let's see how McCallie gets her team to bounce back after this timeout.
15:13, USC 53-44, SECOND HALF: And the field goal drought continues. The Blue Devils haven't connected on a field goal since there were 44 seconds remaining in the first. Gay is corralling the offensive rebounds, but Duke can't buy a bucket.
15:55, USC 51-43, SECOND HALF: This is going to hurt for Duke. Black just picked up her fourth foul attempting to block a 3-pointer. The Blue Devils are already struggling offensively and won't have as many open midrange shots without their center demanding double-teams. Let's see how Duke fares with a smaller line-up, since I doubt we'll see Krystal Thomas, who struggled in the first half.
16:37, USC 51-42, SECOND HALF: What happens when the jumpers aren't falling? Duke goes down, that's what. The Blue Devils have missed their first six shots of the half and have three turnovers while the Trojans have rediscovered their shooting touch with two 3-pointers and two fastbreak lay-ups.
USC is doubling Black inside, who is limited in her aggressiveness due to three fouls.
HALFTIME THOUGHTS:
Where is Abby Waner? The senior guard has been an offensive liability and has no points to match her two turnovers. If the game continues at this fast pace for the second half, McCallie may want to consider benching Waner in favor of Selby, which she attempted in the latter stages of the first half to great effect. Selby has five points in nine minutes on 2-of-2 shooting along with two rebounds.
The Blue Devils started the game attacking inside by pounding the ball into Chante Black, but the Trojans are starting to double inside, forcing Duke to make jump shots. Fortunately for Duke, Thomas, Gay and Selby have been nailing those jumpers as the team shot 53.6 percent in the half. But if those shots don't fall later in the game, the Blue Devils should try harder to get the ball into the post. Black is clearly more talented than her USC counterparts.
Interesting halftime entertainment: The JumboTron has a video of each USC player picking a perfect match for another player on the squad. The popular pick seems to be Justin Timberlake, whose name has come up at least four times. Lakers and Trojan football players have also been mentioned, including Luke Walton, Sasha "The Machine" Vujacic (seriously? he's ugly) and C.J. Gable.
0:00 remaining, 41-41, END OF FIRST HALF: It's been a high-scoring affair in this half, which head coach Joanne P. McCallie cannot be happy about. However, the Blue Devils played much better in the latter part of the half, holding the Trojans to 14 points in 10 minutes. Shay Selby had a chance to take the lead on a buzzer-beater, but her 60-foot prayer bounced off the rim.
2:51 remaining, USC 37-36: A Michael Cooper sighting here at the Galen Center! For those who don't know, Cooper is a former L.A. Laker who played on the Showtime teams of the 1980s with Magic Johnson and company. Currently, he is the coach of the L.A. Sparks, where USC alum Lisa Leslie stars.
Meanwhile, the Blue Devils have to contain their fouls, as they are now in the double bonus. The offense has come alive but the team is not making too many stops.
3:36 remaining, USC 37-34, FIRST HALF: Duke took the lead at 32-31 (its first lead since 3-2) but the Trojans responded with a 6-0 run of their own on yet another 3-pointer and a coast-to-coast lay-up off of a Thomas turnover. Gay has a found a rhythm for the Blue Devils, though, and goes to the line with a chance to complete a three-point play.
6:37 remaining, USC 30-26, FIRST HALF: The self-proclaimed Greatest Band in the History of the Universe is trying to rev up its team as the Trojans have come up empty on their last four possessions. The Duke defense is finally coming to play and the offense has done its part by hitting some jump shots. The Blue Devils have also controlled their fouls and have not committed a foul in over three minutes, though they already have eight on the half.
Thomas looks really comfortable on the offensive end, making some nice passes and knocking down long jumpers. I haven't seen her look this good since last year's NCAA Tournament.
7:51 remaining, USC 30-22, FIRST HALF: Chante Black has scored 10 points for the Blue Devils and Thomas has chipped in eight, but the Duke has gotten little else from its remaining offensive options. Abby Waner is still scoreless and Carrem Gay only has 3.
9:08 remaining, USC 27-18, FIRST HALF: Duke is starting to score-with the majority of its offense coming in the paint-but the Trojans are putting up points at a blistering pace. USC has already knocked down four threes, and heads to the line for two shots to possibly extend its lead to double digits.
12:51 remaining, USC 16-10, FIRST HALF: USC's hot shooting has continued and they are thriving on a steady diet of jumpers. the Blue Devils' offense is looking a little smoother, bolstered by the entrance of Thomas. It looks like Thomas worked on her jump-shot while she was injured as her stroke looks a lot cleaner than before she went down. She has already drained one 3-pointer.
17:02 remaining, USC 7-3, FIRST HALF: Duke's offense has yet to find a rhythm without a natural point guard as Jasmine Thomas is starting this contest on the bench. The Blue Devils have already committed three turnovers. The Trojans have started this game shooting well, led by two 3-pointers from Brynn Cameron. For those of you football fans, that's the mother of former USC quarterback Matt Leinart's son Cole Cameron Leinart.
PREGAME: This is the Blue Devils' second consecutive matchup against a Pac-10 opponent, although don't expect the Trojans to present the same challenge as the Cardinal. Nevertheless, Duke hasn't performed as well on the road as it has in Cameron Indoor Stadium, so it wouldn't be surprising if USC makes an early run.
It's pretty sparse here at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, CA, but it is a Friday night and USC is on winter break. Hopefully, fans will trickle in once the Laker game goes final.
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