For the first ten minutes of Thursday night's contest, Virginia Tech calmly handled Duke's vaunted press and ran step for step with the No. 7 Blue Devils. Then Duke's depth took over, as fresh legs off the bench overwhelmed the ragged Hokies with a whirlwind of frantic defense and fast break layups.
The dust settled after 16 unanswered Blue Devil points, and head coach Joanne P. McCallie's squad was up by a dozen, well on its way to a 62-46 Duke win in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
"All of the different players offer so much," McCallie said of her reserves. "I feel good about giving people an opportunity if the situation presents itself."
With three key players struggling through illness and injury, that time came roughly midway through the first half. Reserve freshman guard Chelsea Hopkins, having recently recovered from a knee injury, helped spearhead the Blue Devils (22-3, 9-2 in the ACC) and fuel the game-breaking run. She disrupted the Hokies' backcourt with her energy en route to a career-high 19 minutes and a very impressed head coach.
"Chelsea just gave us a great lift off the bench today," McCallie said.
Hopkins and Duke's other guards showed no reservations about gambling on defense, and for good reason. Duke has four players over 6-foot-1, whereas the Hokies have none. Completely overmatched, Virgina Tech (11-16, 1-11) repeatedly tried in vain to force passes through the forest of Duke limbs, resulting in 21 turnovers and a 19-for-56 performance from the field.
The Blue Devils needed to be stingy on defense, as they were inconsistent on the other end of the court. They nearly matched the Hokies' effort with 20 giveaways of their own. They frequently missed open targets and often had to force up desperate three point attempts as the fans counted down the last few seconds of the shot clock.
"We had started playing the game from outside in," McCallie said.
After a shaky start, however, Duek managed to simplify its offense and get some easy baskets. At intermission, Duke owned an 18-2 scoring advantage in the lane, using its size advantage to overcome a cold night from the perimeter.
Missing from the Duke lineup was junior Keturah Jackson, who had the flu, and freshman Shay Selby, who turned her ankle in practice. Joy Cheek was also limited with an illness. Despite these setbacks, the Blue Devils managed to earn its ninth ACC win.
"I'm very proud of our team's effort given the adversity we faced," McCallie said.
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