Allison Vernerey

Alli had a great first half with 12 points, finishing several breaks and finishing off some nice passes from Gray and Jones. Duke very consciously was looking to set up Vernerey in the low block in the early going, given that Duke took too many jump shots in the scrimmage on Sunday. She missed some chippies in the second half that were set up nicely and had her usual problems at the foul line, but her length gave Shaw a lot of problems, as her 4 blocks will attest. After letting a few balls slip through her hands, she steadied herself and finished with a double-double.

Haley Peters

Haley had a double-double by halftime and could have had even more than 10 rebounds at that point. Offensively, she scored in a variety of ways: face-up bank shot, pull-up jumper, fast break finish, stickback, three, cut and 2 free throws. She also moved the ball around well, finding Liston for a three. While she missed some shots that she often hits, it was impressive to see her fly around with so much energy for such a long time.

Ka'lia Johnson

Ka'lia once again struggled to hit a shot in the early going, despite doing so many other things well. Coach McCallie noted that when she get a rebound, she's sometimes off-balance, which can affect her subsequent shot. That manifests in the way she maddeningly brings the ball down and takes a dribble when she gets an o-board, allowing the defense to adjust when she tries to go back up. The result is a shot that's slightly awkward. If she simply went right back up after she got a board and sought out contact, she could live at the foul line. In the second half, that's just what she did. Getting a couple of steals + runouts helped get her into a groove, and she followed that up with going hard to the hoop and getting rewarded with a free throw attempt. She did a nice job of passing the ball throughout the game, both in terms of pushing tempo and getting it out to open players after she grabbed a board. There were a couple of times when she perhaps should have passed the ball back out instead of trying to go back to the hoop for an awkward attempt, but in general her aggressive and confident play has been a positive for the team. Now she needs to work on refining her energy and improving her efficiency.

Tricia Liston

Tricia was magnificent. It was telling that she opened up her scoring with a stickback. She followed that up with back-to-back treys to give Duke a 16-0 lead. Shaw coach Jacques Curtis noted that they chose to double down in the post and just didn't bring help to close out on her in time, and Liston simply feasted on that decision for open shot after open shot. The way she scrapped after loose balls (she forced a jump ball), drove hard to the basket and kept her mistakes to a minimum was impressive. Liston played solid position defense and anticipated drives smartly, using her size to force her opponents to take bad shots.

Chelsea Gray

Chelsea was her usual brilliant self in this game, even as her effort level was maybe at a five. She used this game as a kind of laboratory to work on her game. Gray worked on her back-to-the-basket game, backing down her (usually shorter) opponent in the post, turning around and hitting a soft bank shot against the window. She also had a stickback, pulled up for short jumpers, nailed a three, and used a paralyzing head fake to score in transition. She broke off some astonishing passes, including a couple of behind-the-back dishes. Chelsea also took a charge and picked off multiple passes, actually ripping the ball out of her opponent's hands at one point.