Alison Bales   MIN PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 19 8 2-7 0-0 4-6 0 1-4-5 1 1 1 1 TOT 37 17 6-15 0-0 5-7 1 5-6-11 5 1 2 1   Ali was Duke's most consistent performer in this game. Despite struggling a bit from the field (she had some good shots just roll out), Ali aggressively took it to Diawara. Defensively, she forced Diawara into 2-10 shooting from the field and made her take her game outside. Ali used that sweet turnaround jumper that she displayed against Maryland for her first score, had 4 stickbacks, and also a nice dropstep in for a score when Diawara left the game. Her offensive rebounding led to a rare double-double for her. With so many other players having trouble on defense, Ali was often forced to go all over the court to stop drives and block shots. The fact that she played 37 minutes and remained effective throughout is a testament to her stamina and ability to play with fatigue. Carrem Gay   MIN PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 10 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-2-2 0 0 2 0 TOT 23 3 1-3 0-0 1-2 0 2-3-5 0 0 4 4   This was probably Carrem's worst game as a starter. It wasn't that she was having problems scoring, because Gay has had low-scoring games before and was still a huge contributor. The problem was that she was a step slow on defense the whole night and turned the ball over repeatedly. Anderson, a player who generally is not an explosive scorer, felt confident & comfortable the whole night taking short jumpers and attacking Gay off the dribble. Thanks to Copeland's penetration, Gay had trouble rotating quickly in order to bump cutters. While it wasn't her job to stop Copeland's penetration, it was her responsibility to move her feet quickly to prevent those easy scores. It was a total team breakdown against an aggressive opponent. One almost got the sense that Duke felt they could relax because their opponent would throw in the towel like so many others have. Carrem did play more aggressively in the second half, getting to the foul line and finishing on a cut. The problem there was that she was trying too hard to make individual plays at both ends, and she repeatedly fouled & turned the ball over. Carrem will be battling an extremely aggressive Lyndra Littles when they play Virginia, so she'll have an opportunity to redeem herself against an extremely tough matchup. Wanisha Smith   MIN PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 17 7 3-4 1-1 0-0 3 0-1-1 0 1 2 0 TOT 33 9 4-8 1-2 0-0 6 1-2-3 0 1 4 0   Like the rest of Duke's guards, Nish had an up-and-down game. She usually shines on defense but was taken apart by Copeland. In addition to scoring 17 points on 8-14 shooting, Copeland had 8 assists. Nish didn't get a lot of help from others rotating over to stop her, but she also let Copeland get by her several times. On the other hand, when Nish had the ball in her hands, good things usually happened. She had a steal & runout to open the game and had 2 key assists in Duke's comeback. Smith also drained a huge three that brought the crowd back into the game and followed that up with a 17' jumper to give Duke the lead for good. Nish kept making plays, finding Waner in transition late in the first half and then Harding for three to open the second half. A couple of plays later, she sank yet another jumper. Later in the game, she had a great pass to Gay for a score at an important juncture. Abby Waner   MIN PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 17 11 3-6 0-2 5-5 1 1-1-2 0 2 0 0 TOT 35 18 5-10 1-5 7-7 1 1-5-6 0 5 2 1   Abby wasn't immune to the turnovers that afflicted her teammates (all but 1 of Duke's 16 turnovers came from its starters) and was often slow to rotate over to Cook, but she did hustle and dive for loose balls. Her 5 steals included a key theft that led to a three point play and a Duke lead late in the first half. While her threeball wasn't falling in the first half, Abby was able to get to the foul line 5 times and sink them all. Abby also hit what was arguably one of the most important shots in the game: a stop-on-a-dime jumper from 15' that Smith set up. She also drained a big three in the second half that put Duke up by 14. Waner also did a nice job on the boards, especially in the second half. It was good to see her contribute in other ways since she was just 1-5 from three. Lindsey Harding   MIN PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 18 4 2-5 0-0 0-0 1 1-2-3 0 1 1 1 TOT 36 15 5-12 1-1 4-4 2 1-4-5 0 2 3 1   Lindsey's up-and-down play reflected her team's erratic showing. When Lindsey was aggressive and intense, her team followed suit. When she made careless passes and was passive on defense, Duke broke down. It's telling that in the first half, she was involved in just one scoring play (a long jumper) until about the six minute mark. Not coincidentally, Duke was behind for most of the half. It was her huge hustle play, ripping a rebound out of her opponent's hands, that led to a three pointer for Duke. After that, Harding had an assist and nailed a jumper right before the half. In the second half, Harding started things off looking for her own offense, sinking a three and powering up for a drive. When VT drew within 7 points, she had 4 straight points and then an assist to put Duke ahead by 13. However, she relaxed after that and made a few uncharacteristic mistakes. Like Gay, Lindsey has a tough assignment ahead of her with Sharnee Zoll, and I expect her to be up to that challenge. Lindsey had a much nicer time before the game, when Hilary Howard was on hand to present her with a ball commemorating her breaking Howard's assist record at Duke. Emily Waner   MIN PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 3 0 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-0-0 0 0 0 0 TOT 7 0 0-3 0-2 0-0 0 0-0-0 0 0 0 1   Em didn't make much of an impact in this game. She missed a couple of open threes and didn't convert on a tough drive. With the game so close, the starting guards had to get huge minutes in this game and there wasn't much room for her to get significant minutes. Joy Cheek   MIN PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 3 4 2-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-0-0 0 0 0 1 TOT 6 4 2-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-0-0 0 0 0 2   Coach G singled out Joy as one of the bench players who made a difference for her team in terms of her attacking mindset. Indeed, the aggressive young player looked to cut to the hoop whenever possible. She scored on a pass from Smith that was mostly Joy moving well without the ball, and then she took her opponent off the dribble for another layup in the second half to draw Duke within 7 and trigger a 10-0 run that gave Duke the lead. In the second half, she was wide-open under the basket in the halfcourt at one point but Harding didn't see her. A bit of foul trouble and a bad defensive matchup against VT (Anderson was too quick for her) probably kept Coach G from playing her even more, but she made the most of her minutes. Brittany Mitch   MIN PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 5 3 1-1 0-0 1-3 0 0-0-0 0 0 1 1 TOT 9 3 1-1 0-0 1-3 0 0-0-0 0 0 1 1   Brit came in with Emily & Bridgette when Coach G was trying to generate a spark for her team. Brit promptly scored on a three point play, but missed 2 free throws at a crucial time for her team, and also had a turnover. She moved her feet decently but seemed a bit out of sorts on defense. Mitch didn't have the impact she's had in some other recent games, but at least made one good play when the team needed it--her three point play was Duke's only score in a four minute stretch when the Hokies scored 11. Bridgette Mitchell   MIN PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 3 2 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 0-0-0 0 0 0 1 TOT 6 6 3-4 0-0 0-0 1 3-0-3 0 0 0 2   Bridgette did Bridgette things in this game: offensive rebounds, stickbacks, attack the basket. She gave Duke exactly what they needed in this game and Gail noted how important she was to the team's win. Considering that her minutes have wildly fluctuated of late, it was good to see her play with the same kind of enthusiasm she showed at the beginning of the season. All of her scores were important: the drive she had late in the first half put Duke up 6, the stickback she had in the second half was sandwiched around 2 VT scores, and the jumper she hit put Duke up 13. VT didn't have the quickness to deal with her on offense, and Bridgette's aggressiveness made a huge difference. Bridgette also had the pass to Mitch for that important three point play in the first half. Keturah Jackson   MIN PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st DNP TOT DNP   VPI   PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 33 14-26 3-4 2-3 8 3-9-12 1 5 11 8 TOT 65 25-51 6-9 9-11 16 8-18-26 3 11 21 14 Duke   PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 39 14-28 1-4 10-14 6 6-10-16 1 5 7 5 TOT 75 27-58 3-10 18-23 11 15-20-35 5 9 16 13 Copyright © 2007 DWHOOPS.COM (Orin A. Day, Durham, NC, USA.) All Rights Reserved.