Duke Crosses Utah Valley, 95-61

Chante Black

Chante scored 13 of her 15 points in a 7:30 flurry at the end of the first half and the beginning of the second. She was remarkably patient otherwise, only taking one somewhat ill-advised jumper. Duke wisely didn't try to force things too much with her, instead letting Black's quickness and positioning dictate when and where she got the ball. Her first basket was a long jumper in the first half, nicely showing off her range. Even when she wasn't scoring, she was remarkably active on defense, again using her length to tip passes and force steals. She also moved the ball around nicely, hitting Mitch on an alert touch pass and hitting Cheek at precisely the right angle on an entry pass. Her flurry of points included a steal & runout, an alert finish with the clock running down, another alert finish when the UVU defense was napping, a three point play and a stickback. She also had a teeth-rattling block that showed off her power. All told, this was yet another steady performance from one of Duke's most mature players.

Joy Cheek

Joy had a physical mismatch in this game and responded by trying to pound it in at every opportunity--and with 21 shots taken, that's a lot of opportunities. But after scoring 13 of her team's first 30 points, the well really dried up for her. She was just 1-8 in the second half, leaving shots short or having them rejected. Joy wasn't using counter-moves very effectively, instead relying too much on her initial positioning and size. Her opponents were very sharp, however, and stood their ground instead of fouling her. Joy also stopped rebounding in the second half when she was struggling a bit. She did still play solid defense, picking up a charge in the second half by holding her ground. When she was on offensively, she was stellar: hitting threes, getting stickbacks, posting up nicely, finishing high-lows, picking up steals. She did try to use a hook in this game, something we haven't seen that recently from her.

Abby Waner

Abby played with a lot of energy and passion in this game, which was delightful to see after some games where she seemed lethargic. It's a good thing, because she wound up with a lot on her plate. With Jasmine Thomas misfiring, Abby was forced to step in at point guard and did a marvelous job, winding up with 7 assists against just 3 turnovers. Of course, the real story of the game was her whirlwind of a defensive performance. In addition to the 10 steals she was credited with, she tipped at least 3 or 4 more passes and forced a couple of opponents into either dribbling the ball out of bounds or throwing it away. Offensively, her threeball looked sharp, especially when she spotted up and used that little bounce step of hers to launch into the shot. Once she got into a rhythm, she was hitting from beyond the NBA three point line. Her two quick threes really got things moving offensively for Duke, along with 3 early assists. She sat for much of the rest of the first half, but wasted little time in getting going in the second. She finished a three point play, had 2 assists to Gay and nailed 2 long bombs. The only suspense left was whether or not she'd get the steals record in this game.

Wanisha Smith

Nish struggled from the field but looked happy to be out there, and was enormously relieved when her threeball finally dropped. She missed layups, threes, short jumpers and everything else until late in the game. She had assists to Cheek inside and out, to Black at the end of the first half (on a great look), and inside to Gay. She led the shutdown defense on UVU forwards Julie McMurray and Jordyn Bown, as that normally reliable duo combined for 2-9 shooting from the floor.

Jasmine Thomas

This was a rough game for Jasmine. Her jumpshot was off as she badly missed some open shots. She turned the ball over under pressure. Simply put, she wasn't making plays. It was the first game that I've seen her in where she didn't have an overall positive impact. Coach P noted that Jasmine has to learn from this and move on.

Brittany Mitch

Brit's only score came off a touch pass. She did have a couple of assists into the post, but otherwise didn't have a huge impact on the game offensively. Defensively, she was able to use her length nicely when Duke was pressing.

Carrem Gay

New terminology: whenver a player gets 20 points and 10 rebounds, it shall be known as a Moreland, in honor of Chris' career averages in those categories. Tonight, Carrem got a Moreland on some very efficient play. She moved very nicely off the dribble, often driving to set up short shots if opponents were hanging out right under the rim. She hit a couple of 10' jumpers in the first half, had a stickback, a drive and a short jumper and a finish from Mitchell. In the second half, she finished off a couple of steals early on, finished on a nice touch pass from Waner, finished on a cut and had a steal and layup on her own. On that last runout, Gay rose up to dunk in transition, but she couldn't quite get her hand up above the rim to really throw it down. She did score the points, however. Afterward, when asked if that was a dunk attempt, she grinned and said, "Well, you can call it what you want" and noted that it seemed to fire everyone up. I must say it was a good sign to see the team relaxed enough to try something fun like that in a game.

Bridgette Mitchell

Bridgette was solid in her limited minutes. In the first half, she found Gay for a score and hit a free thrown during her stint. In the second half, she had a stickback and 2 foul shots. All told, she was effective, limited her mistakes and was aggressive on the boards.

Keturah Jackson

KJ continued her solid recent play with a stickback, a runout and a fast break basket. She prowled the passing lanes and added some energy off the bench, which I think is her best role. What KJ had trouble with is hitting jumpers; however, the fact that she's making the simple play and limiting her mistakes is exactly what she needs to do to fulfill her role best.

Emily Waner

Em airballed a good look from three but later pulled up from the foul line and buried the shot.

Karima Christmas

After missing her first two shots (both layups that she should have hit), Karima relaxed and was much more focused. She scored in a flurry of attempts down the stretch, grabbed 3 tough boards, and found A.Waner for a basket. I was a bit surprised to see her so far down in the rotation, considering how much of a difference-maker she's become.

Krystal Thomas

Word is that Krystal will be out for a couple of more weeks with her knee injury. The good news is that she dressed out and was moving well (albeit with a big knee brace).