The Nutshell by Rob CloughThis was a game of missed opportunities for Duke, as a hard-nosed Texas A&M
squad shut them down in the second half and the Aggies dropped 48 second-half
points on the Blue Devils. Duke overcame early turnover difficulty with
stifling defense and dominant defensive rebounding to take as much as a 3-point
lead, but they collapsed late in the second half. Duke was undone by poor free
throw shooting (just 3-8 in the first half) and the fact that they couldn't
take advantage of the absence of A&M star Danielle Gant in the second half.
Duke's forwards were out of position for much of the game, the guards couldn't
buy a shot, and Chante Black didn't get nearly enough possessions. In other
words, a veteran and defensively dominant A&M team took control of the game,
rode momentum of its hot shooters and shortened the game enough to survive a
late Duke run. Duke scored 14 points in the last five minutes of the game
after scoring only 18 points in the prior ten minutes. It was too little, too
late for the Devils, who closed out their season with double-digit losses for
the first time since 1997.
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