BLACKSBURG, Va. — The Blue Devils’ bus travelled through Blacksburg, Va. Sunday afternoon to finish the back-end of a two-game weekend road trip—and inside Cassell Coliseum No. 3 Duke kept on rolling.
With Virginia Tech as their host, the Blue Devils (17-0, 3-0 in the ACC) overcame cold shooting with strong bench play and their typical stifling defense en route to a 57-43 victory over the Hokies (9-9, 0-4).
Despite coming out strong in the first half, when Duke shot 15-of-30 from the field and never trailed, the Blue Devils struggled to find their touch in the second half—especially from the perimeter. After going 0-for-7 to start the final period, Duke posted an icy 24.2 shooting percentage in the half with only eight total field goals. Beyond the arc the Blue Devils found themselves shooting a meager 4-for-22 for the game.
“It would be nice if you go 7-for-7 and hit a lot of shots and those kinds of things,” head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “But the thing that’s really hard is to be like the first half where we hit a lot of shots, and to still be aggressive and rebounding and playing the full game.”
Indeed it was the concept of playing the full game that helped Duke through its cold spell. The Blue Devils took advantage of their missed shots to focus on crashing the boards to the tune of 29 second-half rebounds, including 16 on the offensive glass.
Duke’s defense, meanwhile, was swarming all afternoon. The Blue Devils’ superior athleticism held Virginia Tech to just 18-for-56 from the field while giving up only four total free throws. The Hokies also managed just 18 points in the paint against Duke’s 32. Virginia Tech racked up 22 turnovers in the game, and four of the Hokies’ five starters gave the ball up on three or more occasions.
“We cannot have 22 turnovers in a game,” Virginia Tech head coach Beth Dunkenberger said. “We cannot get outrebounded by 10. That’s giving extra possessions to the other team. If we start a game and I say ‘Okay, you’ve got 15 more possessions than me to start the game,’ odds are I’m not going to win.... It comes down to a game of possessions.”
The Blue Devils’ bench didn’t hesitate to capitalize on the extra possessions. Every Duke player saw the floor as the six bench players managed to outscore the five starters, 29-28. Sophomore Allison Vernerey led the way for the Blue Devils’ reserve corps, scoring 15 points and pulling in seven rebounds in a high energy performance that McCallie called “fantastic.”
“Vernerey did what good backup post players do,” Dunkenberger said. “We said she’s going to get the ball, she’s going to get it deep, she’s going to get on the left block and she’s going to turn to her left and score. And she did it again, and again, and again.”
Vernerey was particularly effective in the second half as the rest of the team seemed to wear down. She pulled in three offensive boards and tallied nine points in the period. Just as the Hokies seemed to be figuring out how to chip away at the lead, Vernerey made a key three-point play with 6:04 remaining in the game to jump start a 10-0 Duke run.
Freshman Tricia Liston completed that run with her own three-point play to put the Blue Devils up by 20 just under the four-minute mark, thwarting any hopes of a Virginia Tech comeback. Liston finished with 13 points off the bench for Duke.
With another successful road trip in the books, the Blue Devils look forward to returning to the friendly confines of Cameron Indoor Stadium for the first time in two weeks when they take on Georgia Tech this Friday.
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