Duke 69, BC 58 FINAL: And that's the ballgame. McCallie will most likely be pleased with the victory--the defense looked great, and Cheek and Carrem Gay played well. The lack of scoring in the final few minutes may be some cause for concern, but overall a good win.
Duke 68, BC 58 48:0: Duke should have this one locked up. Boston College is fouling on every Blue Devil possession, and Duke is in the double bonus. The crowd is beginning to noticeably thin out, and if the fat lady isn't singing yet, she certainly is warming up.
Duke 65, BC 56 1:38: Yeah, remember that bad stuff I said about Waner? Forget about it. Waner hits a three from the wing to put Duke back up by nine. Normally I would say that this constitutes the nail on the proverbial coffin, but Boston College is playing right now with an intensity not seen by either team tonight. We'll see what happens.
Duke 62, BC 54, 2:39: Two free throws by Black put the lead back up to 8, but a jumper by Picco cut it back to 6. Karima Christmas came through on the next possession though, putting the Blue Devils back up by eight. Duke seems on edge and is making uncharacteristically sloppy mistakes, as evidenced by an inexcusable Waner travel.
Duke 58, BC 52, 3:28: And just like that, the lead is cut to 6. A three by Brittany Johnson and a jumper by Mickel Picco have the Blue Devils scrambling to keep a victory that seemed pretty certain fairly early in the game. Duke is in the midst of an extended scoring drought--8 points scored in the last 10 minutes. The fans are calling on the help of Crazy Towel Guy. He obliges.
Duke 56, BC 45, 6:50: The Blue Devils have switched into a slow-down offense to try to run the clock out, but if they are not careful, Boston College may find themselves back in the game. Here's a sign that the referees may not be totally in the game, though: at the 9:40 mark, Waner had the ball with 3 seconds left on the shot clock. She dribbled up to the three point line, then heaved a shot that, from here, appeared to totally miss the rim. No shot clock violation called. Did anyone else notice this?
Duke 52, BC 38, 10:16: The game is stagnating a bit-- other than a nifty behind the back pass from Waner to Jasmine Thomas, not much happened. I did learn two things since the last break though. No. 1: Fans will never, ever get tired of counting how many times a cheerleader flips before she runs out of room. No. 2: Assistant coach Al Brown owns a truly remarkable sweater collection.
Duke 50, BC 34, 14:02: Duke coming out of the gate is putting on a clinic on how to run the full court press. The Eagles registered three trips in a row where they were incapable of even getting it to half-court before having the ball stolen. The Blue Devils scored six unanswered points in only a minute. If Boston College does manage to break the press, though, Duke may be in trouble. The Owls are getting easy, hard to defend points from Swords and Murphy down low.
Duke 37, BC 21, HALFTIME: Well, it was an inauspicious end to a great first half by the Blue Devils. Kathleen Scheer hit the rare "stuck between the backboard and the rim" shot (in my book, it should be worth some points, but alas, it isn't). The first half though, could not have gone any better. Switching defenses skillfully between the press and the zone allowed Duke to force 15 turnovers against Boston College-- creating 16 points off of turnovers to the Eagles' 0. In another stat that should have Coach McCallie smiling, every one of the starters had at least one steal. Careem Gay led the Blue Devils in scoring with 10, and in the featured battle between the centers- Swords and Black- both wound up with six points. Duke in the second half must continue to press Boston College, a team right now that definitely does not look like the second ranked team in the conference.
Duke 37, BC 19, 1:58 The play of Chelsea Hopkins has been missed. Wearing a bulky knee brace, Hopkins came into the game and immediately made a tremendous pass to find an open Joy Cheek on the low block. Cheek hit the layup, was fouled, but missed the foul shot.
DUKE 28, BC 17, 3:45: After some minor technical difficulties, we're coming at you live from Cameron Indoor Stadium! The no. 3 Blue Devils are playing the unranked Boston College Eagles. Duke has dominated the game for the most part, gaining points off of offensive rebounds and, of course, off of their defensive play. The most intriguing match-up of the game so far has been between Chante Black and Carolyn Swords-- a rare time Black will face anyone taller than her this year.
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