Elizabeth Williams

Liz was whistled for two early offensive fouls and played just six minutes in the first half. It was fortuitous for State that this was the case, because she had already scored on a stickback and a tremendous drive. In the second half, she found Jackson on a cut, hit a stickback after a Gray miss and sank 2 big free throws with under four minutes to go. She also managed to block a total of 5 shots, swatting shots by each of State's starters. That's the second game in a row where she has managed that feat. Several of those blocks came as State was trying to foul her out; Liz kept her head and simply stood her ground. Furthermore, luring State's players into driving on her took them a bit out of what they were doing best. Speaking of keeping her head, Liz was mugged a number of times with really hard fouls, but she didn't react to that sort of physical play. Instead, she made her opponent pay by blocking shots and grabbing boards.

Haley Peters

This was a rock-steady performance by the increasingly unflappable Peters, who drained jump shots all over the floor and took care of the ball. Her shots were not chippies, either; they were contested jump shots from 15-17' away. She was especially effective down the stretch of the first half, as she sank 2 foul shots, knocked down a long jumper and finished a shot inside from Gray. She played solid defense against Burke and Holston inside and grabbed a decent number of rebounds. She's not much of a threat to score in terms of post moves, but her post defense continues to be much more aggressive.

Richa Jackson

It feels like it's not Jackson's nature to be aggressive, especially with so many other good players around her. However, she's battling that tendency in a big way this year, especially since she obviously needs to produce as a starter. There isn't a Jasmine Thomas around who can bail the team out of any situation. As a result, Richa's looking to create more for herself one-on-one, and the results in this game were spectacular. She tested State's defense with an early drive for a score. During Duke's big first half run, she scored on a drive and then a soft floater, and then found Liston for a three. Later in the half, she sank 2 foul shots (going 4-4 was big for a player who's had trouble focusing on the foul line this year) and stuck back a miss. In the second half, she started with a steal and layup (one of a team-leading 5 steals), scored on a cut and then a pretty 10' jumper, and finished the game with 2 foul shots and a trey. Richa outplayed All-ACC player Bonae Holston for much of the game and held her to 5-13 from the floor.

Tricia Liston

This was the first career double-double for Tricia, who had a strong all-around game. She got to the line and made shots attacking the basket, hitting 4 of her 6 foul shots down the stretch. She used her size to simply take up space and block out, which helped her teammates in addition to beefing up her own stats. She hit a three with 4:46 left that was a killshot, pushing Duke's lead back up to 15. She threw a perfect pass to Gray for a crowd-pleasing alley-oop and also finished in transition. After a shaky game against Wake Forest, she bounced back in a big way against a solid team.

Chelsea Gray

This was a dialed-in game for Chelsea, who was aggressive at both ends and kept State guessing. On one play, she froze her defender with a head fake and drove to the basket unimpeded. That was part of her early-game blitz where she scored 4 points on drives and found Listion in transition. She racked up 6 assists in the first half, including a trio to Peters (one cutting, one for a jumper) and a couple to Vernerey (one in transition, one for a three point play). The touch on her jumper wasn't there today, but the shots she took were good ones. Those are shots I hope she continues to take, in fact. Chelsea didn't get an assist for this one, but she made the pass to Vernerey in a good spot where she could set up to take that huge shot that broke State's momentum in the second half. She held put State away with assists to Liston and Jackson for three, as well as getting a steal & runout. Chelsea also finished a lob play on a pass from Liston, going high on the left side of the basket to tap it in. Her play of the game came in the second half when she inbounded the ball off of Emily Tasler's back, got the bounce and laid the ball in. Amazingly, she had the guts to try that play again, and she just barely missed the layup. Other than a couple of bad passes where she and Liston had a communication breakdown, this was a great game for Gray as a leader and organizer.