The Blue Devils notched their first conference win of the season on the road against Georgia Tech, knocking off the Yellow Jackets 64-47 at the McCamish Pavilion in Atlanta. Stout defense helped Duke jump out to a 14-point lead at halftime, and the team held off a furious Yellow Jacket run in the second half on the way to its first road win of 2014.
“There were parts where our defense was outstanding," McCallie said. “I definitely thought we had everything to do with shots being missed. We are just trying to work toward doing it throughout a 40-minute game. The whole thing is just trying to push through and really keep that grit and fight regardless of the score.”
Junior center Elizabeth Williams helped the Blue Devils (14-1, 1-0 in the ACC) gain an early 22-14 advantage, shooting a perfect 6-for-6 from the field in the first half on her way to a 18-point, 10 rebound-performance. Senior forward Haley Peters also had a double-double, registering 11 points and 15 rebounds.
“I was really proud of Haley and Elizabeth for their double-double and just their consist play and being very aggressive,” McCallie said. “Particularly down the stretch, that was very important to our team.”
The Yellow Jackets (10-4, 0-1) suffered a poor shooting night, managing to sink just 26 percent of their field goals against a Blue Devil defense that has not allowed more than 63 points since an 83-61 loss to No. 1 Connecticut nearly three weeks ago.
Georgia Tech did limit the productivity of guards Chelsea Gray and Alexis Jones, holding the duo to just 11 combined points and forcing Duke's primary ballhandlers to turn the ball over nine times. But Gray dished out nine assists, which was one reason why Duke dominated in the paint, with 36 of the team's 64 points coming inside the key.
“[Chelsea Gray] is coming on strong,” McCallie said. “Her passing ability is quite something—her ability to see the floor and find her teammates.”
On the other end of the court, Yellow Jacket guard Tyaunna Marshall gave the Blue Devils all they could handle, leading her team with 18 points and 16 rebounds. However, the senior shot just 7-for-26 from the floor and only hit 4-of-9 attempts from the free-throw line.
Duke opened the second half with more offensive fireworks, and it extended the lead to 49-30 in the early minutes of the half.
Just as it looked like the Blue Devils were in control, Georgia Tech found enough offense to go on a 13-0 run that cut the lead to just six points with 8:41 to play in the game.
“We got out of what we were doing early,” McCallie said. “We started to dribble more, hold the ball more. I think they capitalized a little bit more. That was a good lesson.”
When Duke needed a response, senior guard Tricia Liston responded with a layup at the 8:24 mark that helped her team find some breathing room late in the game. Liston finished the game with 16 points on 6-for-13 shooting.
Liston’s play sparked a 15-4 run to end the game and deny the Yellow Jackets a chance at upsetting the Blue Devils. Georgia Tech is 0-4 against ranked opponents on the season and only has seven program wins all-time against Duke.
“We are very good a re-asserting ourselves,” McCallie said. “The point we want to get to is being more dominant throughout. We had the possibility to really be dominate in all ways. We backed off that a little bit [in the second half]. The thing we are going to grow to is being dominant and being consistent throughout.”
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