The 2nd Half
The first couple of minutes in the second half featured some unusually
sloppy play on offense by Duke, with 3 turnovers and a missed layup. It
was reminiscent of last year in Cameron, when UNC capitalized on Duke's
errors to come back from a huge halftime deficit. This time, Duke twice
blunted their turnovers by stealing the ball right back. Larkins did
score to open the half, cutting the lead to 35-32, and then scored again
on a dish from Latta.
Bales continued to assert herself by scoring on a feed from Smith.
Larkins missed a shot but was fouled by Gay going up, hitting both.
Cheek came back in and Bales found Smith open for a three. Nish followed
that up about 30 seconds later with a long jumper on a pass from A.Waner.
Latta got fouled by Abby going to the hoop, and sank both shots. Duke
then got 3 shots at the basket but couldn't convert, and Little walked
right by Duke's defense for a layup. Larkins then grabbed a Smith miss and
powered up at the other end to knot the score at 42 with 14:29 left.
Once again, Duke responded. Bales found Harding on a cut for a three
point play that included Lindsey somersaulting at the end of it. Larkins
traveled and Harding was fouled by Breland, but only hit 1 shot. This
began Duke's long, torturous experience at the foul line in the second
half, as they sank just 12 of 27. For a team that normally shoots abou
75% on the season, this was unusual. It affected everyone, and it was
probably some combination of nerves, excitement and what was on the line
in this game. The fact that everyone grew increasingly fatigued and
Harding tweaked her ankle a couple of times was also likely a factor.
Breland scored at the other end to cut the lead to 46-44, but Bales put
the ball on the deck and drove in for a tough basket. It was a bold move,
and she caught Larkins just off-guard enough with it. For Ali, a player
who has had more than her fair share of shots swatted away by the Heels
over the years, it must have been extremely satisfying. Little was fouled
in a mismatch against Smith and hit both. Harding drove and dished to
Abby in the corner, who nailed a three with Latta flying right at her.
That put Duke up by 5 with 12:27 left, but the Heels wouldn't go away.
Pringle hit a foul shot, then Alex Miller stripped Nish going to the
basket and Latta scored at the other end. A.Waner then was whistled for a
charge, and Latta drove in for a short jumper. Once again, the game was
all tied up, this time at 51. Cheek grabbed a miss by Harding and was
fouled, hitting 1. Harding rebounded a miss inside and was fouled at the
other end, but missed both shots. Larkins stuck back a Miller miss to
give UNC a 53-52 lead with nine minutes to go. Larkins fouled Bales, who
hit 1 of 2 to tie the contest. Then came one of the biggest plays of the
game: Emily Waner stripped Latta cleanly and ran a "slow break" to get the
layup in traffic. Afterwards, Abby was given a delay of game warning when
she touched the ball after it went in. Abby & Latta were not exactly
sharing a number of warm moments on the court, as they were jawing at each
other from the very beginning of the game.
The Heels smoothly worked the ball around until they got it to a
wide-open Little for a three that put them back on top. It would prove to
be the last time they did anything smoothly in this game. The last eight
minutes of the game would feature a lot of ugly offense but also some
amazing defensive saves by Duke. Duke missed 2 cracks at the basket on
their next possession, but went into what looked like a matchup zone.
Sylvia Hatchell later noted that she couldn't believe that her team didn't
execute against the zone, considering that their normal efficiency against
them is quite good. I'd say the difference here was that even when they
managed to get the ball inside against the zone, her team still had to
deal with Bales.
McCants immediately turned the ball over against the zone, but Abby threw
it a bit too hard to her sister and the ball went out of bounds. Larkins
missed a couple of shots inside, but it was a Harding steal on Latta that
led to a spectacular runner in transition. After the 2 teams exchanged
misses and turnovers, Smith went to the line and missed 2 freebies.
Latta fired up an off-balance shot that Bales grabbed, and then found Abby
in transition, who hit a tough shot around her defender. Duke's zone
tempted Miller into taking a three that she missed; A.Waner stripped
Little of the rebound and fired the ball to Smith down the court. Nish
missed the shot, but Abby got the rebound and was fouled. This time, she
hit both shots to put Duke up 61-56 with under three minutes left.
The next minute and a half featured A.Waner & Smith missing the front
ends of one-and-ones and Larkins missing 2 shots. When Latta pulled the
trigger on a three, Smith got the board and was fouled, hitting 1 to make
it 62-56 with 1:35 left. The Heels were starting to get increasingly
desperate. Bales altered yet another Larkins shot and the Heels fouled
Smith. She hit 2 huge shots to give Duke an 8 point lead with a minute
left. Latta drove and was fouled, hitting both shots. Duke inbounded and
Harding was fouled again, missing both. Latta drove in for a score and
the Heels nearly came up with a turnover; instead, Duke was able to run
off a full 14 seconds before UNC managed to foul. The frosh Cheek was
sent to the line with her team up 4, and she calmly sank both shots.
Waner grabbed a bad miss by Latta and was fouled with 14 seconds left, but
missed both freebies. Latta hit a tough layup with 7 seconds left to
bring her team within 4 and Waner was fouled again, hitting 1. Abby then
stripped McCants at midcourt, running out the clock and sealing the 67-62
win.
Duke's scoring was much more balanced in the second half: Bales had 5,
Smith had 8, A.Waner had 8, Harding had 6, heek 3 and E.Waner 2. Little,
Latta and Larkins did most of the damage for the Heels; Larkins in
particular had 19 rebounds to go with her 18 points. Duke's bench came up
with some key contributions and provided some much-needed offense &
rebounding. Once again, Duke held several key pieces of UNC's offense in
check; this time it was Pringle (just 1-2 with 4 rebounds and 3
turnovers), McCants (6 points, 3 turnovers) and Miller (0-4 from the
floor). Once again, a UNC offense that averages 87 ppg wasn't able to get
its motor running properly, and that can be attributed to Duke putting
sugar in their gas tank from the very beginning.
On Friday, the Devils will play the winner of Thursday's Virginia-Clemson
game. The Hoos gave Duke all sorts of problems in Charlottesville, and
Lyndra Littles is playing better than ever. The Tigers have three 1-point
losses to teams that finished above them in the standings, and will
certainly give Virginia a tough test. Either opponent will require Duke's
full attention.
For now, the team enjoyed having its very own bonfire and Senior Day
festitivies. After the game, both Harding and Bales spoke to the fans.
Lindsey thanked her entire family for being there along with the fans and
support staff. Alison singled out her father Charles, who made it to
virtually every game this season, and certainly every home game.
Considering that he lives in Ohio, this has been quite a trek for him.
Duke will now get several more days of rest in gearing up for next weekend
to enjoy a remarkable achievement: they are only the 14th team in NCAA
history to finish the regular season undefeated. When one reporter asked
if the pressure was now dramatically increased since they finished
undefeated, Bales said it didn't really matter. Their goals were the same
now as they were before the season, and that was to win the title. I
actually tend to agree, and think there was more pressure to win this one
game against UNC for the regular-season undefeated mark than there will be
down the line. That's because every opponent will feel the same kind of
pressure, the pressure of having one's season end. In addition, this Duke
team doesn't worry when things aren't pretty or smooth and hence doesn't
crack under those conditions. The Heels threw everything they had at Duke
in an effort to get them to crack on defense, and Duke responded by
getting even tougher. Winning ugly has never been prettier.
