The 1st Half As I noted in my preview, defending Maryland is a difficult task because they have so many players who can score. Leading the nation in assists, they make it easy for each other to get good looks at the basket inside and out. The key to any defensive gameplan is to make one's opponent uncomfortable, to get them to do things they don't want to do. With the Terps, while each of their players is quite talented, they all have a weakness or two that can be exploited. For example, Crystal Langhorne sometimes brings the ball down and turns it over; Shay Doron has a weak dribble; Kristi Toliver is not a great one-on-one defender, etc. If Duke played as a unit and made Maryland take tough shots, forced turnovers and stayed competitive on the boards, they'd have a good chance. Looking back at the preview, I noted that Bales had to touch the ball early and often. Result: 15 shots, including two confidence-bolstering turnaround jumpers to start the game (photo, right). I noted that Duke had to attack the basket as much as possible and not settle for threes. Result: Harding had a career-high 28 points, mostly off penetration. Abby Waner had a tough shooting night but her 7 assists set up Smith, Gay, Harding & Bales. Wanisha Smith was the team's secret weapon, spearheading a late first-half run that put Duke in charge. Rebounding was dead even at 41 apiece, and Duke held the Terps to just 3 second-half offense rebounds. This was a remarkably clean game in terms of turnovers, but Duke was +2 and had a 19-7 edge in points off miscues. The Devils forced Maryland to try to attack off the dribble, where Bales & Gay were waiting to block shots (a total of 9). Duke indeed only played three off the bench, and they made some key plays to help fend off a couple of Maryland runs. More than anything, Duke looked relaxed and focused. The huge & vocal crowd helped them throughout the game, keeping them energized & confident. Listening to some of the students behind me, it was clear that many of them had never been to a women's basketball game before--but it was also obvious that this certainly wouldn't be their last. Plenty of alumnae were in town to witness the contest, including Vicki Krapohl, Michele Matyasovsky, Payton Black, Ty Hall and regulars like Lauren Rice, Krista Gingrich & Georgia Schweitzer. Also returning to Cameron for the first time this season was #1 superfan Mike Currie. He's excited that Monique gets to play with Alana Beard again in Israel, and is already figuring out what to do in Chicago now that Mo will be playing for the Sky. Maryland missed both times they came down the floor, but grabbed an offensive board each time and scored. Meanwhile, Duke posted up Bales she hit those jumpers to tie the score. Maryland kept pounding it inside and soon had an 8-4 lead, but they went scoreless for the next four minutes. Duke was forcing them into quick jumpers and Bales started to assert herself on defense, blocking Jade Perry. The Devils took a 9-8 lead when Harding stroked a three and moved further ahead when Smith hit a 15' jumper in rhythm The Terps had a rare hustle play when Coleman ripped down a rebound after Harding missed a layup and found Harper in transition for a potential three point play. She missed the free throw, but the Terps forced a miss and got Langhorne her 6th point point of the game and they took a 12-11 lead. The two teams battled back and forth for the lead over the next four minutes in some intense & physical action. The referees in this game allowed a lot of contact down low but kept things clean; they really left it up to the players to decide the outcome and rewarded aggressive play. One worry I had in this game was how Duke would respond to Maryland scoring jags. When they took back the lead a couple of times, I thought it would be up to the seniors to respond, and they most certainly did. Waner found Bales inside for a hook (a shot she rarely takes) to take back the lead, but Ashleigh Newman responded by hitting a baseline jumper. Harding hit a 10' jumper in the lane and then got fouled going to the hoop, nailing both freebies to put Duke up 17-14. Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood nailed a three to tie it up, but Harding threw Smith a wicked forward bounce pass on a cut to put Duke in front. Newman sank a three to make it 20-19 Maryland with 10:28 left in the half. It would prove to be Maryland's last lead of the game. The seniors responded as Harding tossed the ball inside to Bales, who posted up and scored easily. Coleman missed a jumper (she wasn't connecting on anything in this game) and Smith skipped it over to Emily Waner for a crucial three. Maryland typically focuses on defending the perimeter, so Em hitting that shot was very important--especially since the Devils had so much trouble from long range in this game. After a flurry of turnovers and missed shots by both teams, Emily came up with a steal and tapped it to Smith. Nish drove in for a layup and a 26-20 lead with eight minutes left in the half. Langhorne scored and Gay committed an offensive foul trying to create space for herself down low, and then she scored again to reach double figures with six minutes left in the half. She would score just four more points in the game. Abby penetrated and scored on a contested layup to stop the bleeding, but Coleman drove and hit her only layup of the half. That made it 28-26--as close as the Terps would come the rest of the way. Up to this point, Carrem had had some trouble adjusting to the pace of the game. This was the biggest game of her young career, and much was expected of her. Duke frequently went small in this game to match Maryland's smaller lineup (with Langhorne at center), with Gay at center and either Joy Cheek or Bridgette Mitchell at four. Cheek got the early nod in the game, but Mitchell wound up being more efficient overall. With under six minutes to go, Gay blocked Wiley-Gatewood from behind, grabbed the rebound and gave the ball to Harding. Lindsey turned on the afterburners and blew by everyone for a one-woman fast break. After a Newman miss, Waner took the ball on the wing and nailed a cutting Smith in stride for a three point play. Maryland's frustration was starting to show as Wiley-Gatewood took a quick three and Smith fired a pass to Mitchell for an easy score. With 4:23 left, Duke's lead was suddenly 35-26. This being Maryland, they hit the offensive boards and a crucial basket. The teams exchanged another flurry of missed shots once again and Toliver got to the foul line and hit both. Bales was back in the game after getting some rest and was ready to play defense. Coach G managed her potential fatigue extremely well--Bales would come out of the game about a minute before a TV timeout to get that much extra rest, and come in ready to make plays. With the Terps scoring 4 in a row, Harding called her own number and used a Bales screen to blow by two Terp defenders. Toliver was simply too late to the spot every time Harding wanted to drive. Bales then delivered a nasty two-handed block on Newman, gave the ball to Harding and watched her blow by everyone yet again. This time, Wiley-Gatewood was Harding's victim. A fired-up Bales swatted a Toliver shot (left), but Toliver returned the favor (right). Harding was fouled driving in the lane and hit both freebies with 1:37 to go. The Devils had several chances to extend their lead but Bales, Smith and Harding all missed layups. The good news is that Duke didn't lose their defensive focus the way they did against Georgia Tech in the final minute of that half. Bales blocked Harper twice and then Gay took a turn in swatting her shot. Newman missed a wide-open three that could have been a momentum changer, and the Devils settled for the 11 point lead. Maryland missed 13 of its last 14 shots of the half and the national leaders in FG% shot just 29%. That included 13% from three (2-15) for a team that normally shoots 41%. The Terps did have a 28-22 edge on the boards and 11 offensive rebounds. Everything they got was in the halfcourt--they had very few easy baskets. The Devils had a 10-2 edge in fast break points, but it was clear they wanted to push the tempo even further. Duke kept the Terps off the line (just 3 attempts), and that was greatly aided by Doron picking up 2 quick fouls and playing just four minutes. The Devils missed 6 layups in the half but still shot an impressive 49%. Really, only Maryland's 6-0 edge in second-chance points kept them in the game. Copyright © 2006 DWHOOPS.COM (Orin A. Day, Durham, NC, USA.) All Rights Reserved.