Duke Pulls Away For 84-70 Victory At No. 17 Texas

Sunday, December 4

Austin, Texas

1:30 p.m.

Duke University

Texas

Q&A With Fifth-Year Senior Monique Currie

Duke Pulls Away For 84-70 Victory At No. 17 Texas

12/4/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

By: Duke Sports Information

AUSTIN, Texas ? Monique Currie scored 23 points including a perfect 9-of-9 performance from the line, as the top-ranked Duke women's basketball team (6-0) defeated No. 17 Texas (3-3) 84-70 here Sunday afternoon at the Erwin Center in front of a crowd of 8,394.

Currie played in a Duke season high 35 minutes and hit 7-of-17 from the floor to go with her perfect free throw performance. She added a pair of steals and assists in the game.

Mistie Williams rebounded from a first-half that saw her get in early foul trouble to finish the game with 14 points off of an impressive 5-of-8 mark from the floor. She added five rebounds and was a perfect 4-of-4 from the line.

Lindsey Harding added 13 points in 29 minutes for Duke while Alison Bales and Abby Waner each added nine points and Wanisha Smith eight. Bales led Duke with four assists and three steals and three blocked shots while Waner added three steals and three assists to her performance, as well.

The first half featured six ties as the Longhorns held the lead for most of the period. Texas' big lead of the half came at the 12:39 mark after a 6-1 run gave the Longhorns a 15-9 lead. Lindsey Harding and Wanisha Smith each had three-pointers as Duke regained an early lead at 17-15.

Texas rebounded and scored the game's next five points and then held the lead for the rest of the half until Alison Bales hit a lay-up with just one second remaining.

The Longhorns took a brief lead early in the second half, but it would prove to be their last lead of the game. Texas tied the game at 61 all at the 9:40 mark of the second half before Duke burst open a 7-0 run in the next two minutes. The lead hovered between seven and 10 for most of the rest of the game for Duke before Monique Currie scored the game's final four points in the last minute of play to give Duke a 14 point victory.

Duke will continue its Texas' road trip as they head to Fort Worth Tuesday night for an 8 p.m. ET tipoff at TCU. Duke will then have 13 days off for finals and return to Cameron Indoor Stadium Dec. 19 as they host Ball State.