In the midst of a sloppy game full of turnovers and ugly shots, freshman center Allison Vernerey was a diamond in the rough. With staunch defense and Vernerey’s 20-point performance, the Blue Devils (20-4, 8-1 in the ACC) dominated N.C. State (13-11, 3-6) at Cameron Indoor Stadium, 70-39.
Vernerey, in only her second career start, took complete control of Duke’s offense in the first half. Due to the fact that N.C. State did not have a player in the starting lineup over 6-foot-1, the 6-foot-5 Vernerey was dominant in the paint, scoring 16 of the Blue Devils’ 33 points in the period.
“She was very mobile in the post,” Wolfpack head coach Kellie Harper said. “She was so active, she never stood on one block. Our defense had a hard time fronting her and keeping her from touching the basketball…. She wanted the ball and she found a way to get it. She doesn’t look very strong but she was very aggressive going to get those rebounds.”
Nevertheless, while Vernerey was hot, the rest of the the Blue Devils and the Wolfpack were cold. In the first half, Duke players not named Vernerey scored 17 points while the Wolfpack shot an abysmal 24 percent, much in part to the suffocating Duke defense. For the game, the Blue Devils shot less than 40 percent—not counting Vernerey’s output.
The Wolfpack had trouble adjusting to the Blue Devils’ aggressive defense and were overmatched in size. Duke set up a tight perimeter and didn’t allow NC State to penetrate in the paint or have open looks from the beyond the arc, forcing them to take bad shots.
“Defense is one thing that you can control every game,” senior Joy Cheek said. “Every game you can’t control if the ball is going to go in, but you can control how hard you go.
“We knew if our offense wasn’t working for us we could at least play defense for 40 minutes…. We like to shut teams down.”
After halftime, N.C. State made several adjustments to attempt to contain Vernerey in the post. Although she notched fewer points, she was still able to pull down rebounds with her extremely physical play, notching five in the second half. Vernerey added four more points in the second half along with five more rebounds as she notched her second career double-double.
“We did try some different defenses in the second half that allowed [Vernerey] to catch it,” Harper said. “We double-teamed her a couple times, but she kicked it out unfortunately and they hit a three.”
“Coming back from Christmas break [Vernerey] turned it up another notch,” senior Joy Cheek said. “She’s a hard worker and like [head coach Joanne P. McCallie] said she’s low maintenance and you know that she’s going to work hard every game. She’s going to try to give you her best.”
Duke led a more balanced scoring attack in the second half as senior Bridgette Mitchell and sophomore Shay Selby added 10 points each off the bench. Selby hit two crucial 3-pointers when Duke lost its offensive rhythm in the second half.
It was a sloppy night for both teams as they combined for 58 turnovers and much of the game was spent in transition after bad passes or poor ball handling. However, the Blue Devils managed to add another dominant ACC victory to their record.
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