Duke’s trademark the entire season has been its ability to generate points from its suffocating defensive pressure.
For the first 24 minutes of the Blue Devils’ game against Marist with a Sweet 16 berth on the line, however, this pressure was nowhere to be found. Against a Red Fox team that broke its press with ease, Duke stood in danger of an historic upset.
“I thought they came out really strong, I thought they out-played us,” head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “We needed to be aggressive.”
Despite losing senior guard and MAAC player of the year, Erica Allenspach, to an injury early in the first half, Marist refused to be rattled by Duke’s defense. Elise Caron and Corielle Yarde navigated the Blue Devils’ press with composure, leading to several easy baskets.
During the first half, Duke had only eight points off turnovers, an alarming number for a team that relies on its defense to be the catalyst for the offense. When Duke is not generating the easy transition baskets, it is forced to rely solely on Jasmine Thomas to create out of the halfcourt set. Thomas finished the first-half with 15 attempts from the floor, almost half of all Duke shots.
“I didn’t think we were attacking the basket,” McCallie said. “We talked a lot about that at halftime. You can’t be this pretty team, pretty basketball, pretty jump shots. We needed to be aggressive. And I think in the second half you saw us do that a lot.”
The turning point of the game came when the Duke defensive pressure finally forced Marist into turnovers that led to instant offense. With the Blue Devils down by 11 points early in the second half, the Red Foxes committed three straight turnovers. Steals by Thomas and Karima Christmas led to an open 3-pointer for Thomas and a jumper by Haley Peters that cut the lead to two.
“We just needed to go out and play defense and make stops,” Chelsea Gray said.
In the second half, Duke garnered 19 points off just 10 turnovers, averaging about a basket for every Marist miscue. Christmas and Gray led the way with three steals, while Thomas had one.
Down the stretch it was Gray that would come up with the two biggest steals of the game. Her defensive prowess with under two minutes remaining led to transition points that gave Duke the lead and at one point left Yarde with her head in her hands following yet another Marist turnover.
“I thought Chelsea played very poised and aggressive,” McCallie said. “Chelsea just has that in her. She’s a very, very special player and she’s been a warrior.”
Ultimately if Duke is to advance further into the tournament, it will be because of their full-court press—something that according to Thomas can only be successful if everyone is on the same page.
“I would say that a word describes it: togetherness,” Thomas said. “That last five minutes you just saw everybody move together on defense and on offense. That’s what’s important down the stretch for this team.”
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