Going into the game with Rutgers, Duke had cause to be concerned. This was not the same Scarlet Knight squad that Duke had squashed in Piscataway earlier in the season. All year long, Duke had won because they managed to turn teams into groups of individuals. While Rutgers is quite young (no significant seniors), there's no question that they have enormous talent. In their first meeting, Rutgers tried to win one-on-one, and Duke's defense shredded that approach. More significantly, while a team can win with one or two players dominating offensively, no team can win playing defense as individuals. Rutgers' ability to neutralize Duke's backcourt and create the easy scores that they desperately needed (photo, right) to win the game was one of the keys to their stunning upset.

The first ten minutes of the game were slightly less action-packed than the average Merchant-Ivory film. Duke was sloppy in the early going. They bobbled the tip and were slow to get an offensive rebound (the bane of the first half). Wanisha Smith fouled Matee Ajavon taking a three and then turned the ball over. Alison Bales rushed her first two shots, both airballs. All of this happened in the first two minutes of the game. The Scarlet Knights held a 6-2 lead with 13:32 lead to go in the half.

The Devils were hellbent on getting the ball inside and kept at it. Finally, Bales got fouled and hit 1 freebie. Bales then hit a baseline jumper to maie it 6-5. Rutgers defensive ace Essence Carson hit a long jumer, but Bales was warming up and drained a 17'. After missing her first 3 shots, she showed that she was ready to step up. Joy Cheek powered up and got Rutgers center Kia Vaughn her second foul with 9:40 to go. The 6-4 Vaughn was Rutgers' only real inside threat and legitimate post defender. Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer rolled the dice and benched her for the rest of the half.

The next three minutes saw the two teams trade the lead. Heather Zurich hit the first of many tough jumpers for her team, but Lindsey Harding got a long rebound and fired it to Brittany Mitch for a fast break basket. After a Duke turnover, Ajavon hit n another jumper to make it 12-11. Harding slipped behind a Carrem Gay screen and drained a three. Carson turned the ball over and Harding returned the favor, throwing a perfect pass to Carrem Gay to give Duke a 16-12 advantage. Carson grabbed an offensive board and slipped it to a wide-open teammate to cut it to 2.

At this point, Duke went on a 5-0 mini-run. Duke ran its high-low game to perfection for a couple of possessions, as Bales found Gay inside for a hook and then Gay dished to Bales inside from the high post. When Ali hit a free throw on Duke's next possession with a minute to go in the half, the Devils had a 7 point lead. Duke looked ready to take control when Rutgers changed gears. After playing their base halfcourt defense for the first 19 minutes of the half, Stringer made the decision to switch to their "55" press. The press featured Carson at the top, wreaking havoc with her long arms. Her backup, Myia McCurdy, also applied pressure, and guard Epiphanny Prince was able to take advantage of that smothering defense and pick off bad passes. While Rutgers didn't score on their press in the last minute of the half, they did turn Duke over twice.

Duke still held a 21-16 lead, holding the Scarlet Knights to just 24% from the field. But their 4 second-chance points (to just 2 for Duke) and 4 points off turnovers (matching Duke) not only kept them from being down in double-figures, it also frustrated a Duke team used to dominating those areas. The frontcourt of Bales, Gay & Cheek had 16 of Duke's 21 points.