Alison Bales   MIN PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 19 9 3-7 0-0 3-3 0 1-4-5 2 0 0 1 TOT 38 11 4-12 0-0 3-3 2 3-9-12 4 0 2 1   Ali missed a lot of shots in this game, but I was happy that she was actively looking for her offense. Some of them were bad shots as she was trying to force her way to the hoop. I would like to see more 2-woman game basketball where she passes back out to a guard, repositions herself and then gets the ball back in a good scoring spot. This would also prevent her from picking up her pivot foot, which she got whistled for in this game. Ali showed off her versatility by scoring on a long jumper, a drop-step for a three point play, and then off a cut. She also nailed a long baseline jumper in the second half. Her assists were things of beauty, running UVa ragged with her deadeye passes to cutters like Harding and Smith. Ali & Lindsey in particular show how long they've worked together. Lindsey knows that when Ali's in the high post, she should look to use a screen by her to either roll to the basket on a return pass, or just use the screen to attack the hoop directly. Ali knows that she should look to get passes from Lindsey whenever's she open, no matter where she is on the court. While Ali was solid on offense, she was special on defense. She blocked 4 shots and intimidated Siedah Williams into ineffectiveness. Only Littles was able to take on Bales, and while she scored over Ali a couple of times, it wasn't easy. Bales also dominated the boards against a smaller club, but did well in fending off three very active & athletic rebounders. This marked back-to-back double-doubles for Bales, and she remained effective to the end despite playing 38 minutes. It's a tribute to her defense that she can block shots & intimidate without fouling--just one in this game. Carrem Gay   MIN PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 2 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0-0 0 0 1 2 TOT 11 4 2-4 0-0 0-0 2 1-1-2 0 0 2 4   Carrem had 2 quick fouls (one on a questionable offensive foul) and was yanked for the remainder of the first half. In the second half, she continued to be plagued with foul trouble, but did score 4 quick points. Her best play was probably a high post pass to Harding for a score. I think the problem in this game was that she underestimated how quick Littles was. Carrem doesn't usually encounter posts with her kind of speed and she didn't adjust. She'll have a chance to get back in the groove against a Clemson squad that doesn't have a lot of power but will throw a lot of team speed against Duke. Wanisha Smith   MIN PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 15 3 1-3 1-1 0-0 0 1-0-1 0 1 1 0 TOT 30 13 4-7 2-2 3-4 1 1-1-2 0 1 4 2   Nish sank a pressure-packed three in the first half but hardly touched the ball otherwise. Of course, she had her hands full trying to deal with Wright, whom she eventually got under control. In the second half, she took over in the last six minutes of the game. When Virginia pulled to within 8, Nish nailed a three. When the Hoos went on a 7-0 run, Nish hit a free throw. She scored 6 points in the last 2 minutes to put Virginia away. She did cough up the ball a few times, but a couple of those turnovers came on those errors of commission--trying to push the ball or attack the basket. Abby Waner   MIN PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 15 7 3-5 0-1 1-1 1 0-4-4 0 1 1 0 TOT 33 12 5-11 1-5 1-1 2 0-6-6 0 2 2 3   This wasn't a big splash type of game for Abby, but rather one where she did all of the little things, all game long. She had 4 big rebounds in the first half and did a great job attacking the basket. Her three point play, where she burned McGuire off the dribble and wound up getting fouled by Williams, was especially great. Abby earlier went baseline on a tough reverse and did it again in the second half when Duke was looking to turn back the surging Hoos. Her big play at the end of the first half was knocking down a huge, momentum-blunting jumper. Abby hit a three to trigger a big run in the second half, and though she was just 2-6 in this half from the floor, she made several other key plays. That included a pass to Smith for a three and a huge steal and pass to Nish for a runout. Defensively, she only lost sight of McGuire a couple of times and did a nice job in limiting her to only 4 shots. Lindsey Harding   MIN PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 17 12 4-9 1-2 3-4 2 1-0-1 0 1 1 1 TOT 36 21 8-15 1-3 4-6 4 1-1-2 0 2 1 2   I thought before the game that the real key would be Harding's play against Zoll. Zoll had a great game in last year's meeting against Duke, and Lindsey was a bit up-and-down against Virginia Tech. In this game, Harding attached herself to Zoll on defense and went on jags where she took over the game for minutes at a time. During a two-minute stretch in the first half, she scored 4 points and had 2 assists to push Duke's lead from 3 to 10--that gave them a bit of a comfort zone that frustrated Virginia all night. When Virginia started to cut into the lead a bit, Harding scored 8 straight points for Duke, pushing the Devils back into a double-digit lead. Even though Lindsey missed a couple of shots after that, it was good to see her aggressively look to score. At the end of the half, she showed why she's Duke's all-time assist leader when she found Abby for that jumper. In the second half, Lindsey was steady the whole way. She triggered an early fast break that forced a Virginia time-out, hit a jumper in transition, scored on a give-and-go twice, and had a key drive that stopped a 9-1 Virginia run late in the game. It was also no coincidence that Virginia made that run when Harding was on the bench. Meanwhile, Zoll was just 2-8 from the field; while she did have an impressive 9 assists, she also had 5 turnovers. Lindsey turned in a stellar 4:1 ratio in this game, where she displayed tremendous leadership, aggressiveness and flat-out star power. As an aside, Lindsey now has 1172 career points and will likely wind up as a top-10 scorer for the Devils if they can go deep into the NCAA tournament. Joy Cheek   MIN PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 11 8 4-5 0-0 0-0 0 0-1-1 0 1 0 2 TOT 20 8 4-5 0-0 0-0 0 1-2-3 0 2 1 2   Regardless of how much they might play in an average game, it is the responsibility of the players on the bench to be ready at any time to perform. That's a tough thing to do mentally, but if a player can excel coming in cold, then a coach learns to trust them. Joy went a long way in establishing that kind of trust against Virginia. She would have gotten minutes anyway, thanks to the spark she brought against VPI, but the fact that she came in off the bench just two minutes into the game ready to make an immediate impact really lifted her team. She was a vital part of Duke's initial surge and scored 8 of her team's first 24 points. That included 2 jumpers, a left-handed hook and an up-and-under. This nicely illustrated Joy's inside/outside capabilities. She didn't get the same kind of scoring opportunities in the second half, but she did come up with a key steal. Joy had problems dealing with Littles' quickness, but no one on the team came close to stopping her at any point. Overall, this was a strong showing in a situation where she was required to be very good. Brittany Mitch   MIN PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 8 0 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-0-0 0 0 0 0 TOT 17 0 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 1-1-2 0 1 1 1   Brit didn't have much of an impact during her first half stint, but she made sure to correct that when she got off the bench in the second half. She found Abby for a three and then came up with a steal to trigger a 7-0 run that put Duke up by 15. Mitch is still passing up too many open shots, however. When she missed in the first half, that made her gun-shy. She later had a wide-open three that she eschewed; because of it, Harding had to take a tough shot with the shot clock winding down that she missed. Mitch has to understand that missing an open & good shot is not a bad thing, and she should be confident enough to take that shot if she wants to be part of the offense. Bridgette Mitchell   MIN PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 8 3 1-2 0-1 1-2 1 2-1-3 0 1 0 0 TOT 11 7 2-3 0-1 3-4 1 3-2-5 0 1 1 0   B made a number of key plays and added a lot of energy to the mix. She came in when Gay was still anchored to the bench with 2 fouls and Cheek needed a rest in the first half. She immediately halted a mini-slide by sticking back a missed three by Harding, then hit a free throw and found Bales for a score. What was nice about this was that she played with her characteristic excitement but did it in a controlled fashion. In the second half, she just did simple things: rebound, finish an inbounds pass, hit free throws. She did have one ball ripped out of her hands, which was just a lesson in staying aggressive even when you've boarded a ball. Mitchell also a attempted a three that missed but looked pretty good; she seems a lot more comfortable with her range. While these past couple of games have been sloppy for the team in general, the silver lining is that Cheek & Mitchell have been getting real minutes and they've responded nicely. That can only help Duke down the line. Emily Waner   MIN PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 5 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0-0-0 0 0 1 1 TOT 5 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0-0-0 0 0 1 1   Em has had her minutes reduced the last couple of games. I suspect that's partly because Mitch has become more effective on offense recently and is a better on-ball defender. I thought Em did a few nice things in her first half stint, including an assist to Cheek on the baseline that was a nice find, and a pass to Bales. I'd like to see her assert herself a bit more on offense and perhaps take more mid-range shots. I'd also like to see her attack off the dribble a bit more. Keturah Jackson   MIN PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st DNP TOT DNP   Duke   PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 42 16-32 2-6 8-10 5 5-12-17 2 5 5 7 TOT 76 29-58 4-12 14-18 14 11-25-36 4 9 15 15 UVa   PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 31 12-28 1-4 6-9 5 6-11-17 0 3 10 7 TOT 61 25-56 4-10 7-15 14 11-20-31 0 8 18 16 Sorry, no photo gallery for this game. Copyright © 2007 DWHOOPS.COM (Orin A. Day, Durham, NC, USA.) All Rights Reserved.