Vanderbilt’s zone defense Tuesday night was no match for the Blue Devils, who put up their most accurate shooting effort of the season to earn themselves a trip to the Sweet 16.
The Commodore’s defense initially forced Duke into attempts from long range, but the Blue Devils took advantage of the deep opportunities. They shot the lights out early—highlighted by nine consecutive buckets during a five-minute stretch in the first half—forcing Vanderbilt to unpack its zone in order to contest shots along the perimeter. By forcing the Commodore post players to respect the jump shot, Duke was able to find cutters underneath the basket for easy layups.
“It was just a matter of getting out post players out, our guards out—just communication, and we lacked that,” Vanderbilt sophomore guard Christina Foggie said. “It should not have been as hard as it looked out there.”
The Blue Devils also converted easy layups in transition, as their post players routinely beat 6-foot-4 sophomore center Stephanie Holzer up the floor. On multiple occasions, Duke used crisp outlet passing to push the ball up the court and score before Holzer could get within 25 feet of her defensive position.
Duke went on a 29-6 run while Vanderbilt head coach Melanie Balcomb and the Commodores struggled to defend a team shooting well over 60 percent from the field, which gave the Blue Devils a cushion they would enjoy for the rest of the game. Vanderbilt eventually adjusted, going to a full-court press in the second half that gave the Blue Devils some trouble, but by then it was too late.
“I did not see that coming,” Balcomb said. “Defensively, we did not come out ready. We didn’t take anything away from them. We didn’t dictate....We had the deer in the headlights look, which I just didn’t think we would have at home.”
Sophomore Haley Peters provided the spark for the Blue Devils during the early run, swishing three straight deep jumpers at one point and putting up 15 points in the first half. The 6-foot-3 forward finished with career highs in minutes, points, and field goals made.
Sophomore Chelsea Gray, who will return to her home state next weekend to take on St. John’s in Fresno, Calif., finished just one assist shy of matching her career high of 13. She found teammates both in the half-court offense and in transition, even feeding Peters a fast-break layup from across the mid-court line in the first half.
“I think she looks for the natural next move,” McCallie said. “I loved her eyes, they were up and she was finding her teammates to make the easiest pass possible.”
Despite having such a offensive showing—Duke shot 65.6 percent from the field, a season high—the Blue Devils were far from perfect on the other end of the floor.
Defensive rebounding, a weak area for the Blue Devils all season, once again plagued the team. The Vanderbilt post players, who failed to grab a defensive rebound in the first half, had their way on the offensive glass, snatching 10 offensive boards in the first period. Holzer especially gave Duke trouble on defense, once grabbing three rebounds in one possession before finally converting on a layup opportunity.
After getting burned by Holzer for 10 points and six offensive rebounds in the first half, freshman Elizabeth Williams adjusted and was able to limit her counterpart to just two points and one offensive rebound in the next twenty minutes.
“Initially I missed some box-outs, especially in that first stretch where they got a sequence of offensive rebounds,” Williams said. “After that, I really focused…[McCallie] told me to focus on positioning, just being in the right spots on offense and defense. So that’s what I tried to do—put a body on [Holzer].”
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