1st Half Recap
As noted in my preview, Clemson came out with a lot of intensity in the
early going and attacked Duke at both ends. They played with a purpose,
forced a couple of turnovers, and got some easy baskets. It took awhile
for Duke to match that intensity, though as Coach G noted, "it got our
attention very quickly." The Tigers basically play 4 guards around one
post, and that post isn't very big or skilled. Clemson tried to mask this
deficiency by using some full court pressure and jumping into lanes, and
then settling into a 2-3 matchup zone when the action moved into halfcourt
play. Duke wasn't going to settle for pull-up jumpers, but instead looked
to move the ball around and find Bales whenever possible.
In the early going, the Tigers jumped out to a quick 6-2 lead, thanks to a
Harding turnover and dish from frosh star Lele Hardy to guard Tasha
Taylor. D'Lesha Lloyd and Christy Brown then followed that up with open
jumpers. Bales countered in that run with a nice dropstep past Moreemi
Davis. Duke pulled to within 1 when Harding skipped a pass over to
A.Waner for three, but Lloyd nailed another mid-range shot to push
Clemson's lead back to 3. Bales got the ball and was fouled going up for
the first of her 13 trips to the foul line. A Bales block on Brown led to
a fast break finished by Wanisha Smith (photo), giving Duke its
first lead at 9-8. The Tigers missed but got an offensive rebound to
retake the lead, but Waner stuck back a Carrem Gay miss to put Duke ahead
for good at 11-10 with 15:12 left in the half.
That was the trigger for a 9-0 run that gave Duke a little breathing room.
Bales simply took over the game, getting fouled and hitting both, grabbing
a defensive rebound and then sticking back a missed 3 for a three point
play. Duke forced Morganne Campbell into the sideline for a turnover, and
Ali dished inside to Carrem for an easy score. Clemson coach Cristy
McKinney made the odd choice of subbing out Hardy early in the game for
the far less effective Susan Yenser, a move that made her team slower and
easier to guard.
Meanwhile, Coach G went to her own bench for a few minutes, and the result
was a few minutes of disorganization on defense. Clemson actually
outscored Duke 13-11 during this six minute stretch, as Taylor, Lloyd and
Hardy all got some tough buckets. Harding scored her only 5 points of the
game, Bales hit a couple of more foul shots, and Bridgette Mitchell came
off the bench for a stickback. After Brittany Mitch hit Joy Cheek for
a short jumper, Clemson closed to within 29-23 with 7:43 left in the
half.
Coach G stuck with the bench and it paid off, as Cheek got a mismatch
against Taylor and got fouled, sticking both shots. Mitch stole the ball
and pushed it ahead to Gay, who blew a tough layup in transition.
At the
other end, Harding pushed the intensity level up a few notches with
a
tremendous leaping block on Christy Brown. That led to Lindsey
attacking the zone and zipping a pass to Mitch, who knocked down a
three ("The Nutshell" photo). That shot seemed to flick Mitch's "on" switch, because she played the rest of the
game with verve and confidence. After a Clemson turnover, Gay attacked
the baseline for a score, and then Bales got a wide-open layup after a
Clemson miss.
McKinney called a timeout, but it didn't help. Bales blocked Lloyd and
then stole the ball from Brown. A.Waner then found Gay inside for another
easy score. With 4:25 left,
Duke suddenly led 40-23. Lloyd slipped in
for another shot, but 2 Bales foul shots set up back-to-back threes by
Abby. Hardy and Lloyd both got baskets, but Mitchell's energy was
making its mark. She scored on a pass from Harding, dished to Emily Waner
for a three and
then sank a foul shot with 5 seconds left in the
half. That left just enough time for Brown to zip down the court and
launch a three at the buzzer that swished through the net. That served as
a reminder to the team that they had to be vigilant against the Tigers,
who looked to attack constantly.
Duke was -1 in rebounding at the half, and that was with the Devils
rallying to grab the last 4 boards of the half. Coach G gave a rather
impassioned halftime speech on this topic ("we're better than that"), and
it certainly had its desired effect. Still, despite Clemson's 8 first
half offensive boards, they only managed 8 second-chance points.
Meanwhile, Duke had 11 second-chance points on 6 offensive boards. The
Devils also had a strong 13-4 edge in points off turnovers, coughing up
the ball just 3 times. Duke also avoided fouling, picking up only 3 in
the half. The Tigers had 5 different players with 2 fouls apiece in the
half and had 11 turnovers. Most of those were forced by Duke one way or
another. Bales had 11 points eight minutes into the game and could have
had a lot more, with her precise and skilled play.
