Alison Bales   MIN PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 15 7 3-5 0-0 1-2 1 2-2-4 3 0 1 1 TOT 28 13 4-6 0-0 5-8 3 3-5-8 5 0 3 2   Another fine game for the senior, though Holy Cross' zone limited her touches. Still, she knocked down a jumper, got a stickback and finished a post-up in the first half. In the second half, there was one sequence where she dished to Cheek & E.Waner for cuts and sandwiched those around a stickback. Several of Ali's blocks led directly to Duke scoring off their fast break, and it was clear that Holy Cross eventually feared bringing the ball in against her. Temple will be an interesting challenge for Ali as they have a lot of size and a widebody in center Lady Comfort. Ali did get in some foul trouble here, with a couple of them fairly cheap ones. She'll have to be mindful of this against Temple, because Duke will need her on the floor to foil Temple's attempts at establishing a post game. Carrem Gay   MIN PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 11 6 3-3 0-0 0-0 0 2-0-2 1 2 1 1 TOT 22 10 5-6 0-0 0-0 0 3-0-3 1 3 3 3   A quietly outstanding game for Carrem. She hit shots inside, hit a jumper from long-range and had a couple of stickbacks. One of Duke's utility players, she also jumped passing lanes aggressively to get steals. Carrem did wind up with an offensive foul and coughed the ball up a couple of other times, but she had a couple of crucial baskets. A stickback with seven minutes to go in the first half was Duke's only score during a three minute period; a tough jumper at the beginning of the second half sparked a huge Duke run. Wanisha Smith   MIN PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 16 0 0-3 0-0 0-0 8 1-3-4 0 1 2 2 TOT 26 3 1-4 1-1 0-0 9 1-5-6 0 1 3 2   Nish fired the ball to Abby again and again, and Abby kept sinking shots. That helped Smith pile up 9 assists, though she also dished to Bales and Gay for scores. Wanisha also grabbed 6 boards, drained a three and forced a held ball. One of her turnovers came on an offensive foul. Not a bad game at all, though Duke will likely need a bit more offense from her in the next game. Abby Waner   MIN PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 16 20 7-11 6-8 0-0 0 0-1-1 1 1 0 0 TOT 26 26 9-15 6-8 2-2 1 1-2-3 1 4 1 1   The extended rest has done wonders for Abby's energy level, and that increased energy is the real story with her recent surge. Yes, the 6 threes are very nice and gave Duke an early cushion in this game. But I was more impressed with her 4 steals and disruption of Holy Cross' offense--especially in the second half. Abby is really back to her old self as a defender--not a lockdown player (she's not quick enough), but rather someone who meshes well with her teammates. She and Nish had an incredible link in this game--Nish knew where to find her every time, and Abby got in such an incredible rhythm that she was nailing shots from everywhere--left corner, right corner, left wing, right wing; she took shots with confidence and didn't worry about missing. Abby just looked relaxed, confident and played with a huge grin on her face at all times. She was also relatively mistake-free, though she did lose the player she was guarding a few times. Abby and Nish were taking turns guarding O'Dell, and both were late in getting to her a couple of times. Lindsey Harding   MIN PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 12 4 1-5 1-4 1-2 0 1-0-1 0 0 0 2 TOT 22 7 2-8 1-4 2-4 1 1-0-1 0 3 0 2   This was an old-school game for Lindsey, who was ineffective on offense (2-8 from the field) but clamped down on her foes defensively. Her only field goals were a three and a fast break layup, but her defense on first McFadden (9 turnovers) and then O'Dell (6 points in the last 25 minutes) spoke volumes about her worth to her team as its leader. When Lindsey is aggressive and locking people down, everything else follows for Duke. I'm not too concerned about her problems from the field; Lindsey can be streaky but also recognizes when to defer to hot teammates. Abby was sizzling out there, and the team wisely got her the ball. When the team needs to call on Lindsey for offense in future games, she'll be ready to answer. Emily Waner   MIN PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 10 0 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 0-0-0 0 0 0 0 TOT 22 4 2-4 0-2 0-0 1 0-0-0 0 0 0 0   Em had a few nice plays in this game, scoring on a cut from Bales and using a pump fake to score after her sister deposited a no-look pass her way. Em was responsible for finding Abby at the end of the first half; the three that she hit gave Duke a lot of momentum. Em missed 2 open looks from three. Joy Cheek   MIN PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 7 2 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 0-2-2 0 0 0 0 TOT 17 10 5-8 0-0 0-0 1 0-3-3 0 1 1 2   Another solid game for Joy, who continues to play aggressively and intelligently. She was scoring on post-ups, turn-around jumpers, perimeter shots and cuts. Her only turnover came when she lifted her pivot foot as she was starting a drive. Joy is Duke's steadiest player off the bench and the team suffers little dropoff when she comes in to replace either Gay or Bales. Brittany Mitch   MIN PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 6 0 0-3 0-2 0-0 1 0-0-0 0 0 0 1 TOT 16 2 1-4 0-2 0-1 2 0-1-1 0 2 0 1   When Brittany thinks about a play too long on offense, she tends to freeze up. She missed an open layup by putting too much push on it, and missed a couple of open threes in the same way. On the other hand, she hit a very difficult layup in traffic for a potential three point play, simply because she reacted. Mitch has the potential to be a very good player not just because she's 6-2 and has point guard skills, but because she has great balance and body control. She just hasn't been able to harness this in a way where she can feel comfortable on the floor at all times. Mitch almost always bounces back from a bad shot with a great effort on defense, and this game was no exception. She jumped passing lanes, getting 2 steals and several other deflections. Mitch also flashed her point guard skills by dishing to Bales inside and to Harding for a three. If Mitch could find a way to relax and just concentrate on fundamentals, then the rest would follow. Bridgette Mitchell   MIN PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 7 2 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-1-2 1 1 0 0 TOT 13 4 2-2 0-0 0-0 1 1-4-5 1 1 0 0   Newly blonde-streaked Bridgette had a solid game. In the first half, she stuck back a Bales miss, blocked a shot and picked up a steal. In the second half, she finished in transition and did some nice work on the boards. Her speed gave her an overwhelming advantage over Holy Cross, and she was able to get into a nice rhythm without making mistakes. Temple is a dominant rebounding team and Mitchell could be an x-factor for Duke if she can play the same kind of smart but energetic ball on Tuesday. Keturah Jackson   MIN PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st DNP TOT 8 2 1-2 0-0 0-1 1 2-1-3 0 0 1 2   KJ got in with about eight minutes left and had a nice showing. When she hit a driving jumper and got fouled, the bench exploded in celebration. She rebounded solidly, found Cheek inside for a jumper and did a nice job of pushing tempo. Her main problem was picking up a couple of quick fouls. Holy Cross   PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 22 9-23 4-10 0-0 8 3-10-13 1 1 10 4 TOT 44 17-45 8-19 2-3 15 4-18-22 1 4 22 13 Duke   PTS FG 3FG FT A O-D-REB BLK STL TO PF 1st 41 16-33 7-15 2-4 12 9-10-19 6 5 4 7 TOT 81 32-59 8-17 9-16 20 14-24-38 8 15 12 15 Please use top menu to reach either of our two photo galleries! Copyright © 2007 DWHOOPS.COM (Orin A. Day, Durham, NC, USA.) All Rights Reserved.