Currie, Harding Lead No. 2 Duke To 66-52 Win At BC

Saturday, January 14

Chestnut Hill, Mass.

6 p.m.

Duke University

Boston College

Currie, Harding Lead No. 2 Duke To 66-52 Win At BC

1/14/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

By: Duke Sports Information

BOSTON (AP) - Duke just couldn't be stopped in the second half.

Monique Currie scored 14 of her 20 points after halftime and the second-ranked Blue Devils shrugged off a slow start to beat No. 22 Boston College 66-52 on Saturday.

``Monique showed why she's the best player in the ACC and one of the best players in the nation,'' Duke coach Gail Goestenkors said. ``She's a big-time player.''

The Blue Devils (16-0, 5-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) missed 20 of their first 25 shots and finished with their lowest scoring total this season. They beat Georgia Tech 67-59 Wednesday.

``I guess, at times, it was frustrating because our offense wasn't going,'' said Currie, who went 5-for-6 from the floor after the break. ``We weren't taking our time and getting good shots.''

Currie got untracked early in the second half, connecting on a pair of 3-pointers 3:20 apart.

``That's why she's a great player,'' BC coach Cathy Inglese said. ``She comes in at the end of games and does what's necessary.''

Kindyll Dorsey led the Eagles (12-5, 0-3) with 20 points. She made four of nine 3-pointers. Brooke Queenan added 11 points for BC, which fell to 1-5 against Top 25 teams.

``We know that we can play with these teams, but every game in the ACC will be hard,'' BC forward Lisa Macchia said.

Queenan converted a reverse layup with 16:20 to play to give the Eagles a 32-24 lead.

The Blue Devils battled back, putting together a 7-0 run to take a 56-50 lead with 4:24 left. Lindsey Harding started the spurt with a basket and finished it off with a steal and a breakaway layup.

``Duke showed why they're the No. 2 team in the country the last five, six minutes,'' Inglese said. ``We had a few shots that weren't falling at the end of the game.''

Wanish Smith scored off a drive to make it 61-52 Duke with 2:56 to play.

Harding added 18 points and Mistie Williams had 11 for the Blue Devils. Currie also moved into third place in Duke's all-time scoring list.

Duke shot 26 percent in the first half and trailed 22-20 at the break.