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Game Recap by by Rob CloughThe theme so far for Duke is winning ugly as the level of difficulty has slowly
ramped up. Of course, the opponent has something to do with dictating flow and
tempo. Playing against Purdue induced a Big Ten-style slugfest, and playing
against the Broad Street Bullies of women's basketball in Temple meant a
slowed-down, physical affair. The good news for Duke is that this group was up
to the challenge and put together a fairly decent offensive attack. Shooting
48% from the floor and only turning the ball over 11 times are excellent signs
of a progress for a team that continues to run through different lineups at a
rapid rate. Coach P trotted out yet another starting lineup in this game, this
time employing Chante Black, Joy Cheek, Keturah Jackson, Brittany Mitch and
Wanisha Smith.
The game was tight early on, and Duke didn't start to get rolling until Jasmine
Thomas came off the bench to score in transition off steals. Duke held a 16-4
edge in fast-break points, and that pretty much is what won the game for them.
Finding ways to push tempo, getting the defense to create easy baskets for the
offense and providing opportunities for its best athletes to run the floor and
finish is what will ultimately determine this team's long-term fate.
Interestingly, the end of the half saw Duke field a young lineup that got them
a bit of breathing room. The Owls actually had a 19-18 lead with under five
minutes to go. Smith, still recovering from a wrist injury, found Krystal
Thomas inside. Karima Christmas then stole the ball, drove and was fouled
while scoring. She missed the free throw, but Carrem Gay (coming off the bench
for the first time since her freshman year) got the offensive rebound.
Christmas then attacked the basket for a score to put Duke up 26-19.
Completing the frosh contribution in the half, Jasmine Thomas hit a jumper and
drove in for a layup with just 13 seconds left. That put Duke up 32-23.
Neither team shot well from the foul line, which certainly helped Duke out
because they put the Owls at the charity stripe early and often. Temple's
LaKeisha Eaddy then went to work in the second half, scoring 9 points in the
first five minutes. Two Lady Comfort foul shots tied the game up at 38 six
minutes into the half. It didn't help that Duke committed six fouls during
that time. After a Black free throw, Christmas picked up a loose ball and
zipped in for another score, getting fouled once again. Karima missed the foul
shot again, but Gay was there to tip it in. Those two hustle plays pushed
Duke's lead up to 43-38. Duke's defense held Temple to just two points over a
six minute period, and most importantly kept them off the foul line. Smith hit
a huge three to put Duke up 6.
At that point, Duke's post game, which had been held in check by Temple's
power,
started to kick into gear. Black and Gay in particular started posting up,
getting tip-ins and making trips to the foul line. They helped hold off a
Temple rally, as the Owls hit some unlikely threes late in the second half.
The Owls pulled to within three with 2:38 left, but were unable to score again.
Meanwhile, J.Thomas hit a high-pressure jumper to make the lead 5, and Black
scored on a fast break after a Temple miss. That helped Duke survive some
truly gruesome foul shooting (7-20), no doubt influenced by the physical nature
of the game.
In the end, Duke survived Temple pounding on them in the post, hitting some
threes and outrebounding them. That's because the Devils shared the ball
nicely (14 assists on 28 field goals), kept their turnovers low, and made the
most of their opportunities. Still, one can't help but sense that the
extensive use of the bench (ten players got double-figure minutes) is making it
difficult for the team to gel in high-pressure situations. The bright side is
keeping everyone fresh and theoretically ready to contribute, but minutes seem
to be distributed quite oddly at times. Some players who started in one game
(Mitchell) played just three minutes here. Some of this can be attributed to
in-game performance, of course, but one gets the sense that Coach McCallie is
still experimenting with lineups as much as she is trying to win games. It'll
be interesting to see how this plays out when the competition takes a quantum
leap--like on Sunday against UConn.
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