Editor's Note: All articles have been published.
The Nutshell
On a night where Duke's starters were misfiring left and right (a combined
13-43), the bench stepped up and not only provided quality minutes, they
almost outscored the starters (35 of Duke's 77 points), not to mention the
entire Wake squad. Wake is a team that has yet to even reach 10 wins on
the season, but they never gave up in this game and had moments of precise
execution. Indeed, they outhustled Duke in the first half, getting more
rebounds and holding Duke to just one shot on most possessions. The way
Wake was playing defense, it encouraged Duke to shoot off the dribble
instead of working the ball around. That was exacerbated when Alison Bales
got into serious foul trouble, picking up 3 in the first half and her 4th
at the beginning of the second half. That was during a period when Wake
cut a 15 point Duke lead to 8. Lindsey Harding stepped up at that point,
scoring 4 quick points and raising her overall level of intensity.
Joy Cheek stepped in for Bales and had a fine outing,
attacking the basket and
getting to the foul line. As a team, the Devils sank 28 of 32 foul shots,
and this made all the difference for Duke during long scoring droughts
from the floor. Duke dominated the second half because they made a
commitment to attacking the offensive boards and prevented Wake from
getting any second shots. Coach G noted that this was Duke's 4th game in
10 days and that her starters didn't quite have the juice to meet Wake's
intensity at times. However, the minutes she's given to her bench of late
have really paid off, because the reserves were aggressive, composed and
worked well as a unit. Duke checked off another road win and another ACC
victory, and in the end that was all that mattered.
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