Krystal Thomas

Krystal has yet to demonstrate the shooting touch that she purportedly had developed this summer. In the first half, she also continued to be distressingly passive on offense. Allowing a small team to dictate your offense simply by throwing up a zone is not going to fly against quality opponents. While her teammates were somewhat to blame by not getting her touches, Krystal simply wasn't aggressive enough in posting up and calling for the ball. Her airball momentarily rattled her, leading to 3 first half fouls. That third foul was a bit of a wake-up call, as she knew that Duke had no viable options beyond her in the post. Indeed, her first power-up move came right after her second foul. In the second half, she started off with a hook shot and did some nice work in the post, especially when it came to scoring after offensive rebounds. Her wackiest moment came when Jasmine delivered a slightly high pass to her when she was standing with her back turned under the basket. She took the pass and flipped it behind her for the score. Defensively, she smartly avoided picking up any more fouls (and wisely just used her size to defend as opposed to trying to block every shot) and kept working hard on the boards, grabbing 14 in the second half alone. Certainly, she had a good 5 inches on every one of her opponents, but she absolutely dominated the boards in the way she should have. More items to work on: making good decisions with the ball (she traveled a couple of times and also had some questionable passes) and was just 3-8 from the foul line. If she can actually get to the line 8 times in every game, she'll need to work up to at least 60 or 70% from the line.

Kathleen Scheer

This was obviously the best game of Scheer's career. She noted in postgame that she came into the program and tried to make herself purely into a two-guard shooting threes, but that she was capable of other things, things she used to do in high school. Early on, that tendency to hunt bad shots reared its head, but that was tempered by her intense effort on defense and the boards. Effort has never been an issue for Scheer, but efficiency certainly has, and this game was easily the most efficient I've ever seen her on the floor. She is not a great ballhandler and doesn't have the kind of first step that will dazzle opponents. She is, however, a heady player who will be at her best when she doesn't stop the ball, but rather reacts with it quickly in her hands. That means when she posts up, she needs to back in and rapidly turn around for that highly effective shot of hers. She posted up twice in that manner, and while it was against an opponent giving up about three inches, the shot would have been hard for anyone to block. I especially liked the way she used the glass in getting her shot to land. This is not to say that Scheer should abandon long-range shooting. Her ability to stretch a defense with her shot will be a major reason why she might succeed at the four. However, that shot should be attempted (ideally) from either inside-out (like when she hit two threes on passes from Krystal Thomas) or in a catch-and-shoot situation on a skip pass (like the one that Selby threw her). Of course, being able to hit shorter shots bolstered her confidence to the point where she stopped flinging up shots hoping they would go in and instead looked poised and confident with every attempt. With 11 rebounds, a block and even a couple of assists, Scheer gave notice that she is very much in the mix for major playing time this season.

Karima Christmas

Karima was pretty much in midseason form, with the exception of her long ball not dropping. She simply bullied Wingate at will, powering up for 3 stickbacks and getting to the line 8 times, mostly after offensive rebounds. When she wasn't attacking the boards and brushing off defenders, she was hounding Wingate players into turnovers, forcing 3 steals. Combine that with assists to Peters and J.Thomas, and you have a fairly complete game from the senior. She may need to lay off pull-up threes a bit and rely on her teammates getting her the ball in better scoring positions.

Haley Peters

Haley plays with an intensity that's almost scary to watch, which is something she'll need to tone down a bit as she matures. She's sometimes so intense that she gets in her own way on plays, forcing shots or dribbling into trouble. She's also the kind of player who will need to adopt a "next play" attitude as soon as possible; like Alana Beard and Abby Waner before her, she clearly beats herself up too much over mistakes. Even when she was turning the ball over and badly missing shots in the first half, she was always in the right place at the right time on defense. Even with those mistakes, if she had slowed down just a bit and thought plays through, she was in position to do some good things. In the second half, she looked relieved when her bank shot went in and she got another shot to fall as the shot clock was winding down. It doesn't help that Peters is learning multiple positions, though McCallie noted that we will see her primarily at power forward this year. In other words, she and Scheer will be competing for time at the same position, though McCallie also said that she likes playing the two of them together in certain situations (a look we saw a few times in this game).

Shay Selby

Shay got the start at point guard and did a credible job. She threw a brilliant pass to Jasmine on a well-designed back pick-for lob play. She hit Scheer for a three and Christmas after she forced a steal. Selby scored off the dribble and also hit a late trey and bank shot. She also took several bad shots that were forced, and once turned the ball over and compounded the error by committing a foul. That's not the kind of play you want to see from a junior looking to command major minutes. Of course, this is the first time Shay is seeing major minutes with the starting lineup, so she will have to adjust as much as anyone.