DUKE 68-65, FINAL: And the Blue Devils hang on. Thomas made two more free throws, and Toliver couldn't get a last second three off in time. It is Duke's second consecutive victory over the Terrapins and first in the regular season since 2007.
SECOND HALF, Duke 66-65, 2.6 seconds remaining: Toliver just nailed a three to bring the Terps to within one after Thomas made her second free throw. But is there enough time left for Maryland to pull off the improbable comeback?
SECOND HALF, Duke 64-62, 8.6 seconds remaining: Maryland just had their first chance to steal a road victory, and they couldn't have hoped for a much better look, as Toliver's 3-pointer rimmed out. Cheek grabbed the rebound for the Blue Devils, who will now have to protect the ball and make their foul shots.
Jasmine Thomas just sunk her first free throw to give the Blue Devils a three-point lead. This next one will be crucial in order to make it a two-possession game. The Terrapins have called timeout, probably in an attempt to ice Thomas.
SECOND HALF, Duke 64-62, 59.8 seconds remaining: Evidently, the return of Coleman has re-energized Waner, who just scored on a give-and-go from Black. But Coleman responded with a layup of her own and we still have a one-possession game. The entire crowd at Cameron Indoor is standing for what should be an exciting finish.
SECOND HALF, Duke 62-60, 1:39 remaining: Coleman is back for Maryland, but the Terrapins are still having difficulty scoring. Unfortunately, the Blue Devils have been shooting abysmally in this half. After putting up 40 points in the first period, they've missed a lot of open looks in the second session.
SECOND HALF, Duke 58-57, 6:03 remaining: If the Blue Devils don't pull out a victory tonight, they can point to one factor that most directly contributed to their loss-missed layups. On that last possession, Duke missed four-count it, FOUR-layups for a long, empty trip.
SECOND HALF, Duke 58-57, 6:45 remaining: Maryland's Kizer is at the line to try to complete a three-point play for the Terrapins, but the Blue Devils are finally showing some life. Waner hit Black in the post for a jumper right after the timeout and Karima Christmas stole the inbounds and converted a Keturah Jackson missed 3-pointer into a layup. So much for an easy win - this one's likely to go down to the wire.
SECOND HALF, Maryland 53-52, 7:41 remaining: No Coleman, no problem for the Terrapins. The Terps have made four consecutive 3-pointers-fairly uncontested looks, at that-to take their first lead since 20-19.
SECOND HALF, Duke 52-49, 8:49 remaining: The pace is getting a little frenetic here as both teams are committing very sloppy turnovers. Toliver made another three-after yet another travel call- but then finally drained one that counted to bring Maryland to within three. Coleman has been limping for most of the second half and the pain has caused another stoppage of play. And Coleman has just headed to the locker room with what looks to be a cramp in her left leg.
SECOND HALF, Duke 48-41, 11:59 remaining: Toliver just drained her first three-pointer of the night, but luckily for Duke, it came after the guard had been whistled for a traveling violation. The Blue Devils have rediscovered their offense, at least for the time being, but Toliver and the Terps aren't likely to go away easily.
SECOND HALF, Duke 41-36, 15:45 remaining: Suffice to say Duke's offensive success hasn't exactly carried over to this half. The Blue Devils have only managed one point on a 1-for-2 trip to the foul line from Cheek. Meanwhile, Coleman has come alive offensively for the Terrapins. After taking Waner to the hole and making a lay-in, a clearly hobbling Coleman deflected a pass by Waner on the other end, leading to an easy jumper by Toliver-the Maryland point guard's first points of the game. Let's see how Duke responds after the media timeout.
END OF FIRST HALF, Duke 40-29: Waner is clearly enjoying playing against her best friend, as she's showing a swagger that I've never seen from her. On the Blue Devils' second to last play of the half, she called an isolation on Coleman and nailed a 3-pointer well beyond the men's line to give her eight points in the half. Waner has also done a decent job of shutting down Coleman on the other end, as she ariballed her last shot of the period.
Cheek leads all scorers will 11 points, demonstrative of the dominance of Duke's post play thus far. Black isn't far behind with seven, and Bridgette Mitchell has six-although she's missed six layups in the process.
The Blue Devils have dominated the glass, pulling down 27 boards-10 offensive-to the Terrapins' 19. And although the foul disparity favors Maryland (8-3), Duke has taken two more free throws (five) and converted all five of them. Also, the Blue Devils only committed two fouls in the final ten minutes of the period.
If Duke continues to assert itself inside-and Waner's stroke continues outside-this should be a relatively easy win for the Blue Devils. But, beware of an offensive explosion from Maryland's Kristi Toliver, who leads the team with 17.1 points per game but has yet to crack the scoreboard today. The Blue Devils are all too aware of how deadly Toliver's long range can be.
FIRST HALF, Duke 32-23: 3:14 remaining: And the Coleman-Waner battle continues. After the Duke guard hit a trey to give the Blue Devils a double-digit lead, Coleman responded with a 3-pointer of her own to keep the Terrapins in striking distance.
It may be a bit early to say this, but this is about as good as the halfcourt offense has looked under head coach Joanne P. McCallie. The inside-out attack has been very successful.
FIRST HALF, Duke 29-20, 5:25 remaining: Duke has found its advantage inside and is converting as they have opened up their largest lead of the game, forcing the Terps to call a timeout.
Something of note: The Blue Devils have done well to limit their fouls after falling into the single bonus early. Duke struggled to contain its fouls last season against ranked opponents, and looked to be in trouble early, but has defended well in the past few minutes.
FIRST HALF, Duke 23-20, 6:31 remaining: Bridgette Mitchell has helped bring the hustle back for Duke, as they are crashing the boards relentlessly. Problem is, when you miss five layups on five possessions, it becomes difficult to put points on the scoreboard.
FIRST HALF, Maryland 12-11, 11:50 remaining: Some playful banter between Waner and her best friend, Maryland forward Marissa Coleman. On the inbounds directly after the injury stoppage, Coleman told Waner as the Blue Devil inbounded the ball, "I know what play you're about to run." Not surprisingly, Duke proceeded to turn the ball over.
The Blue Devils have found some offense in Joy Cheek, who has scored seven points, but they've been unable to get the ball inside consistently. Meanwhile, the Terropins are scoring in the paint with ease.
FIRST HALF, Maryland 9-8, 13:22 remaining: Play has stopped as the Terrapins' Lynette Kizer has gone down to injury. Duke was looking to take advantage of a 5-on-4 but the officials called the play dead, much to the chagrin of Abby Waner and company. We'll keep you posted on Kizer's status.
FIRST HALF, Duke 6-5, 15:39 remaining: We're here at Cameron Indoor Stadium as Duke takes on their rivals to the north, the Terrapins. It's been a defensive battle so far, as both teams have generated offense by creating turnovers. The Blue Devils have already blown two fast-break opportunities, one on a missed layup by Keturah Jackson and the other due to an offensive foul on Jasmine Thomas.
Duke has had difficulty establishing its offense in the post as Chante Black is seeing regular double-teams. So far, the outside shots aren't falling.
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