Blue Devils Cruise Past Florida A&M 93-38 in Duke Women's Basketball

DURHAM, N.C. (November 27) -- No. 25 Duke jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in defeating Florida A&M 93-38 Saturday evening in its first game of the Duke Women's Basketball Classic. Duke improved to 3-1 on the season while Florida A&M dropped to 0-3.

The victory sets up tomorrow's Duke Women's Basketball Classic championship game between No. 25 Duke (3-1) and No. 8 Penn State (3-0) at 4 p.m. in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Penn State defeated St. Joseph's 96-64 in today's first matchup.

Duke held Florida A&M to 13 first-half points and 28 percent shooting as the Blue Devils slowly built a 49-13 first half lead.

"We started off a little bit slow but we had pretty good focus for the remainder of the game," Goestenkors said. "When you get a big lead like that, it's hard to stay focused. The subs came in and did an excellent job. Janee Hayes, LaNedra Brown- all the kids that have been doing a great job in practice got a chance to get on the floor in a game situation."

Duke was led by guard Georgia Schweitzer's 16 points (7-12 shooting). Guard Michele Matyasovsky finished with a career-high 14 points and seven rebounds in 23 minutes, forward Peppi Browne contributed 11 points and Janee Hayes finished with a career-high 10 points in only 12 minutes.

The Blue Devils outshot Florida A&M 50-31 percent and outrebounded the Rattlerettes 43-31.

The win sets up tomorrow's 4 p.m. championship game between the Blue Devils and Penn State. Goestenkors was impressed with what she saw of the Lady Lions.

"Penn State is an exceptional team," Goestenkors said. "They've got a great inside-outside game, great shooters, a tremendous point guard in Helen Darling and their post-play is phenomenal. They've got the complete package. It's going to take a combined team effort and our best effort of the year for us to come away with a win."

Duke has won the last seven Duke Women's Basketball Classic titles.

SATURDAY'S GAMES
Duke Women's Basketball Classic
No. 8 Penn State 96 St. Joseph's 64
No. 25 Duke 93 Florida A&M 38

SUNDAY'S MATCHUPS
Duke Women's Basketball Classic
(benefitting Durham's Ronald McDonald House)
St. Joseph's (1-1) vs. Florida A&M (0-3), 2 p.m.
No. 25 DUKE (3-1) vs. No. 8 Penn State (3-0), 4 p.m.