The 2nd Half An early offensive rebound in the second half led to Gay finding Harding for a 15' jumper. UT forward Sidney Spencer started to warm up from distance, stroking 2 threes to bring her team within 7 points. Harding pulled up and hit a 17' jumper, but point guard Shannon Bobbitt drained a trey to make it a 6 point game. Smith zipped down court and hit a 17' jumper to give Duke a working margin. Harding & Waner missed a couple of threes that could have re-established their double-digit lead and Spencer hit 2 freebies to make the lead 6. After struggling from the floor thanks to Parker blocking her shots, Bales kept going strong and got fouled, making both. UT scored inside right after that, but Smith hit a gorgeous fadeaway jumper from the baseline to push Duke's lead to 48-40 with thirteen minutes left. Despite UT's threes, Duke kept pace thanks to its guards. However, Harding missed a couple of jumpers and the Lady Vols took advantage. Alex Fuller hit a three, Hornbuckle stole the ball from Emily Waner and got a layup and Parker got a three point play against Bales. The Lady Vols had tied the game at 48 with under eleven minutes left. Thompson-Boling was rocking, but would Tennessee be able to sustain its adrenaline surge? Would Duke be able to score in the face of an intense defense that had shut off Duke's passing lanes? Duke immediately went into Bales, who was fouled and hit both. After a Spencer miss, Harding went right at Anosike for a three point play to give her team a 5-point cushion. Parker scored inside, was matched by a Smith three, and then hit a three of her own. A.Waner then sank a 27' three from the last "e" in "Tennessee". The two teams battled hard but didn't score for a couple of minutes, as Bales started to cause more chaos inside defensively. Finally, Harding hit a huge three to put Duke up 62-53 with 6:32 left. Spencer got another good look and sank another three to keep Tennessee within shouting distance, but Smith was fouled and coolly sank both shots. Hornbuckle hit a three and Parker blocked Bales and later went to the foul line but missed both. Duke took advantage when Harding hit Bales inside for a potential three point play. She missed the free throw and Hornbuckle scored off the long rebound to draw UT within 5 points Smith was fouled again and sank 2 more big freebies, giving Duke a three possession lead with 2:25 left. Parker missed a shot but Hornbuckle snuck in for the stickback. Harding drove around UT's defense for a clutch runner with 1:35 left to make it 70-63. Things looked good for Duke, but near-disaster struck: Gay fouled Fuller going after a pass, and picked up her fifth foul. Curiously, Coach G inserted Brittany Mitch in place of Gay instead of Joy Cheek, who had done a good job on the boards. Fuller missed her second freebie and Anosike got fouled. She hit 1 of 2, the Lady Vols got the board again and Parker scored to suddenly make it 70-67 with 1:19 left. After a miss by Waner in the corner, the Lady Vols had another couple of cracks at the basket, but once again Bales' presence on defense forced a miss by Parker. Bales came up with the rebound with 24 seconds left. Harding took the inbounds pass, threw it ahead to Mitch, and watched Waner find Smith for a press-breaking layup. That put Duke up by 5 with 15 seconds left. A quick three from Tennessee brought them within 2 points but Harding put the game away with 2 foul shots despite Pat Summitt trying to ice her at the line. After a very sloppy first half, Duke had just 5 second-half turnovers. The withstood Tennessee's press, hit their free throws (just 1 miss under a lot of pressure), and stuck to their game plan no matter what happened. While Tennessee's took advantage of their strength inside, Duke depended on its guard play to make the difference. For a team that has had trouble shooting from the perimeter, Duke hit a lot of very difficult shots. Beyond Duke's mental toughness at the end of the game in scratching out a lead, their opening five minutes of perfect basketball showed that they are happy to take on any opponent anywhere, and if their foes don't match their intensity from the get-go, it can be tough for them to hang in against the Devils. Duke made mistakes and certainly has flaws as a team, but one never sensed them tightening up. That's a tribute to Coach G's looser style, but also to the leadership of Harding, the coolness of Smith and the intensity of Waner. That trio gets better as a unit with every passing game, and has been an enormous key to Duke's surprising success. The Devils are now 20-0 on the season and hope to surpass their best start ever in Tallahassee later this week. Copyright © 2007 DWHOOPS.COM (Orin A. Day, Durham, NC, USA.) All Rights Reserved.