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Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham, NC February 10, 2008 |
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Deacs No Match for Devils, 71-36
Game Recap by Orin DayIn the world of 12 teams and an unbalanced conference schedule, the traditional ACC Big Four rivalry between Duke and Wake Forest is reduced to one game per year. Last year's edition in Winston-Salem was a 77-45 win for Duke that started out tight but morphed into a 15 point Blue Devil halftime lead. This year's edition came in Cameron, and unlike last year it wasn't even close - Duke jumped out to a 12-0 lead, led 35-18 at half, and rarely looked back.Wake has been a hard-luck team under head coach Mike Petersen, and this year's injured list includes their top three point guards going into the season. Duke took advantage of this and pressed relentlessly, forcing 24 Wake turnovers, and holding the Deacs to 18 points in each half. To Wake's credit, there is very little quit in their team, they were running hard to the end of the game despite exhaustion from heavy minutes. The Blue Devil outside shooters had a bad game - a combined 3-17 from behind the arc - but at 2-18 Wake was worse. Chante Black was doubled most of the game, which freed things up for Carrem Gay (15 points) and Joy Cheek (13 including a three). Jasmine Thomas and Wanisha Smith did not score from the field, failing to find their range from outside and falling victim to shot blocking inside. Abby Waner scored 10 points including 2-7 three point shooting and her 1,000th career point. 10 of Duke's 11 players scored, a number made most notable by the absence of senior Emily Waner, who left the team late last week. We have no comment on this situation at this time, other than that it is no secret that DWHoops holds the highest regard for Emily as an individual and as a Duke student athlete. A fair number of fans wore pink in support of "Think Pink" for breast cancer awareness, but the stands were emptier than the typical Sunday afternoon affair. Duke will of course close out the home schedule with two more Sunday games against Maryland and Virginia - and while the Maryland game had previously been announced as a sellout, tickets are supposedly still available. But before those contests, Duke must travel to Clemson for a Wednesday night matchup with the Tigers. |
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