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Game Recap by Rob CloughIn the pregame lineup, Abby Waner gave Wanisha Smith a big hug, excitedly
exclaiming, "You're back!" For the first time in quite a while, Duke had its
ideal starting lineup on the floor. While Nish struggled to score, she moved
the ball around nicely on offense, played solid defense and in general gave the
team a lift with her energy, as Coach P noted. More than anything, it was nice
to have another experienced veteran back in the lineup, someone who has a good
feel for how to fit in with her teammates and get them comfortable. There are
a lot of splashier stories from this game, but the fact that Smith is back
can't be overstressed.
The biggest story from the game was Duke's pressure defense, resulting in 39
turnovers, 24 steals, 49 points off turnovers and a school-record 10 steals
from Abby Waner. Abby broke a record held by Missy Anderson and Kim Hunter
that somehow stood through the defensive reigns of terror of Peppi Browne,
Alana Beard and Lindsey Harding. Abby downplayed her achievement; indeed, she
didn't even know about it until after the game, though she said that she will
enjoy trash talk with radio analyst Anderson tomorrow. She was truly
everywhere on defense: applying pressure to ballhandlers for steals,
anticipating passes to the post, forcing passes to the sideline, and harassing
opponents into dribbling out of bounds. She was somehow able to do this
without a single bad gamble and only 1 foul.
Utah Valley University is just four seasons into being a Division I program,
after great success as a junior college. The Wolverines went from 4 wins their
first year to 15 wins last year. They were 9-2 coming into this game, having
defeated UC Irvine, Seton Hall, Utah State and Air Force. The team dropped
road games to Montana State and BYU, coughing up the ball over 20 times in both
losses. On the season, UVU averaged 82 ppg coming into this game, hitting 7
threes a game and forcing 20 turnovers from their opponents. UVU liked an
up-tempo game, had multiple players who could hit threes, and had a fair amount
of quality depth. Duke was going to attack them inside, considering that only
two regulars were as tall as 6-1 and they were being outrebounded on the
season. The Devils would also try to force turnovers, considering that UVU
averaged 19 a game.
Smith replaced Bridgette Mitchell in the starting lineup, and the Devils blew
out to a 17-6 lead in the game's first six minutes. Joy Cheek was primed and
ready to score, hitting a shot on a pass from Waner and then draining a three
from the top of the key. Abby followed that up with back-to-back treys to make
it 11-6. Waner then came up with a steal and found Chante Black in the lane,
who then executed a nifty touch pass to Brittany Mitch for a spectacular score.
Cheek then stuck back a Waner miss after another steal, and yet another Abby
pilfer led to Mitch finding Gay inside for a short jumper. Two trends were
established during this period: Duke scored 7 times but missed 7 shots, while
UVU had a turnover per minute played.
In the game's next six minutes, Duke took control and was moving into complete
blowout territory. Black finally scratched with a smooth 17' jumper and
Mitchell made a bit of an impact with a pass to Gay and a foul shot. Gay then
stuck back a Cheek miss (one of many) and then found her inside for a layup.
Another Waner steal wound up in Joy's hands for a runout. Black then found her
inside on a high-low, bringing her up to 13 points in thirteen minutes. A
stickback of a missed three by Keturah Jackson made it 32-12 in favor of Duke,
as UVU had 13 turnovers. Up until this point, the trey-happy Wolverines hadn't
hit a single three.
That ended with a sloppy two-minute sequence by Duke as UVU ran off 8 straight
points, with two wide-open threes. Coach P called a quick time-out to quell
that problem, and Duke responded with 6 straight points. KJ had a steal &
layup, Gay hit a short jumper and Black stepped up with 2 free throws. Duke
then gave up 2 offensive boards and Gay fouled Wolverine Julie McMurray while
she was shooting--or rather, backed into her while she was shooting. Carrem
started blocking out about a second too early, and was tagged with a whistle.
Karima Christmas, after missing two layups, came up with a steal and pass to
Black for a layup. After another UVU turnover, Gay hit a short jumper. Duke
gave up a three and Jasmine Thomas coughed up the ball, and compounded her
error by fouling. She then coughed up the ball again, but Duke held. Smith
then found Black inside with four seconds left, making it 44-28. While Duke
had a 25-9 edge in points off turnovers, UVU surprisingly outscored Duke 10-9 in
second-chance points.
To start the second half, Thomas missed an easy layup and Smith had a shot
blocked. UVU star Robyn Fairbanks had a wide-open three that would have cut
the lead to 13, perhaps making it a game again, but she missed. Black stuck back a
Smith miss on the other end for a five point swing. The Devils put the game
away with a 22-4 run as Waner had 9 points, 2 steals and 2 assists. She hit 2
long threes, had a three point play on a pass from Black, and found Gay twice
after steals. Black hit Waner on that three point play, had a three point play
of her own and then stuck back a Waner miss. Seven minutes into the second
half, Duke had a 31 point lead.
Once again, Duke went through a lull for a few minutes when they had the game
in
hand. UVU rallied and ran hard at both ends, getting a fast break basket after
a miss by Gay, a stickback after KJ missed a layup, a trio of pull-up jumpers.
With under ten minutes to go, Duke had their lead cut to 26. The Devils
responded by pounding the boards and attacking on defense. Cheek started the
response with a strong post-up, and Mitchell then had a stickback and a couple
of free throws. Jackson then came up with a steal, passed to Waner, and then
received a pass back from Abby to score on a fast break. Two Waner free throws
and Smith finally hitting a three in the corner capped off Duke's 11-3 run.
Christmas then came off the bench was much more focused, scoring on a couple of
drives, a cut and 2 free throws, and also finding Waner for a score. Duke had
held Fairbanks to just 10 points (she averages 22 ppg), but she scored 7 points
in the last 1:29 of the game. That also brought her rebound total to 20 for
the
game, which was a Cameron record. Coach P was none too pleased with that turn
of events, vowing that this would be broken by one of her own players.
In general, McCallie was happy that this was a "great team game", with "lots of
people involved". She singled out Abby's leadership on defense, as well as her
ability to take over at point guard when Jasmine struggled. The fact that UVU
outrebounded Duke was "a thorn in our side", considering that the team has had
trouble on the boards recently. UVU coach Cathy Nixon was delighted that her
team was able to accomplish its pregame goal of outboarding the Devils. The
Devils did wind up with a 22-19 edge in second-chance points for the game, but
the fact that they needed 94 shots to get 95 points reveals how erratic the
team was at times. Still, the story of this game was Duke's pressure and the
way it disrupted UVU so thoroughly. There were several minutes of the game
where the Wolverines couldn't even advance the ball past midcourt, and even if
they did, Duke's overplaying the wings in their man defense would force a
steal. That triggered Duke's running game, leading to 24 fast break points.
Duke needed this game to shake off the rust of their break, to feel a little
better about moving the ball around, and to continue to refine its rotation as
the ACC season looms.
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