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The 2nd Half
Duke was aggressive to start the second half, which was a good thing
considering that the Heels were active as well. Waner had a steal and
finished a fast break from Harding. Little popped UNC's first three of
the game, but Bales forced a miss by Larkins and Waner leaked out for
another transition basket. That was Duke's last score for a couple of
minutes as the two teams fought each other furiously for possession of the
ball. Harding uncharacteristically missed 2 free throws, and McCants got
a steal to cut Duke's lead to 38-38 three minutes into the half.
Cheek came in off the bench and drained a 19' baseline jumper with
confidence to push the lead back to 4. After several more minutes of
frenetic play (featuring multiple turnovers and missed shots by both
teams), Little slipped inside for a score to bring the Heels within 2
again. Brittany Mitch missed a three and the Heels had a chance to
tie, but Bales stepped up with a huge block on Little and got the board.
Harding then posted up the smaller Miller on the right block, patiently
waited for the ball, and then nailed a turnaround jumper. That used to be
Alana Beard's go-to move, and Lindsey exploited the mismatch perfectly.
Latta finally found Larkins for her first field and a potential three
point play, but Erlana missed the freebie. Brittany Mitch missed a couple
of more shots, and Gay fouled Larkins going for a rebound. The Heels were
in the bonus at the 13:46 mark and the double-bonus at the ten minute
mark, but the Devils only had 2 more fouls the rest of the game. Larkins
and Bales traded a foul shot apiece to keep the margin at 2 with twelve
minutes left.
Harding then stole the ball from Larkins and Mitch hit a confident Cheek
for another long jumper. A 4 point lead in this game felt larger because
the Heels had to work so hard to get shots. They finally tied it at 45
thanks to some free throws, but missed the foul shot that would have put
them ahead. That blunted their momentum just enough to give Duke the
chance to keep pushing on defense. The Devils didn't make it easy for
themselves as Waner took a too-quick jumper and then tried to force
something off the dribble. Bales blocked Little but then had her own shot
blocked by Pringle.
Latta then slipped a screen as Harding lost track of her for a moment
and pulled up for a three that clanged off the rim. That hurt the Heels'
psyche, especially when Harding saw an opportunity and stuck a 15' jumper
on the other end. Miller came up big with a jumper to tie the game at 47
with under eight minutes left. The Heels then had 3 chances to take
the lead and blew all 3 shots before Larkins got fouled. She missed both
of her free throws and then the Heels had a defensive breakdown where
Smith got the ball into Bales for an easy layup. Latta was fouled by
Bales, and the normally great shooter hit only 1 of 2.
A reinvigorated Bales then drained a 19' jumper off a Waner pass to give
Duke a 3 point cushion with five minutes left. Latta missed a short shot
and Gay, battling foul trouble herself, grabbed a key rebound. She pushed
it ahead to Harding, who dished ahead to Waner for a crucial transition
basket. UNC's legs were clearly starting to turn into mush.
Latta found Little, the one player that Duke couldn't quite keep track
of, for a score to cut it to 3. Waner blew by her defender for a driving
layup and McCants missed a three. Duke ran a little clock and Waner hit a
"dagger" (to quote Coach G) of a 19' corner jumper to push Duke's lead to
7 with 2:39 left. The Heels took a time-out, but they were now in
full-blown panic mode.
The next two plays pretty much summed up the game. Latta was looking to
save the team by herself. Harding matched her step-for-step, and forced a
travel as Latta tried to spin away from her. At the other end, Harding
burned a little clock after getting away from the press. She then drove
the lane, disposed of Miller with a crossover and then split Larkins &
Little for a spectacular layup.
Duke could have really buried them, but had a shot block and then saw
Harding miss the front end of a one-and-one. Latta kept jacking up
awkward-looking threes that didn't come close to landing, and Bales hit 2
freebies to put Duke up by 11 with 42 seconds left. Little hit a miracle
three to pull her team within 8 and Harding missed another front end, but
Gay came up with the board and Waner got fouled. She hit 1 with 19
seconds left, and then Harding gave Duke the double-digit win with 2 more
foul shots at the end.
By that point, both teams were clearly exhausted, but Duke kept moving
their feet on defense. The Devils weren't perfect in this game--they made
some lazy passes, were occasionally late to the spot on defense (all of
the fouls were very much a symptom of this) and didn't always go to the
basket as hard as they should have. The key here was that they kept the
same cool-headed demeanor throughout the game. The crowd wasn't a
distraction, the physical nature of the game (though jarring) didn't stop
them from running the offense, and most of all they never relented on
defense.
As I noted earlier, the intensity of the action kept them focused
throughout the game. The Heels never went on any huge runs--the points
they managed to scratch out came at the foul line (almost 25% of their
total points!) or from Little. Duke got at least 4 rebounds from every
starter and did a great job of preventing the Heels from getting too
many second chance points (13-10, UNC). As I've noted before, while this
Duke team isn't the most talented in history, it's by far the strongest
mentally. That's a credit to the seniors and their long journey as
players, but it's also a credit to the younger players who've had to learn
on the job. There's a lot of ball left to be played, and the team now has
to keep up their intensity in playing Wake Forest on the road.
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