Black Has Career Game As Duke Routes No. 6 Maryland, 86-68

Sunday, January 8

College Park, Md.

1 p.m.

Duke University

Maryland

Laura Kurz To Transfer From Duke Women?s Basketball Program

Black Has Career Game As Duke Routes No. 6 Maryland, 86-68

1/8/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

By: Duke Sports Information

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Chante Black and Lindsey Harding both scored career highs with 19 points and the No. 2 Duke Blue Devils improve to 14-0 overall and 3-0 in the ACC after dismantling No. 6 Maryland 86-68 Sunday here at the Comcast Center in front of a crowd of 16,097. Maryland falls to 14-2 overall and 1-1 in the ACC.

Monique Currie added 18 for Duke, including 13 in the second half. Harding and Black combined to hit 11-of-11 from the field in the first half as Duke held a 48-31 lead. Currie did most of her damage in the second half, including 10 down the stretch run of the second half. Currie became the school's fourth all-time leading scorer passing Katie Meier.

The two teams played relatively even the first five minutes of the game and after Maryland held an 11-10 lead, Duke went on an 8-0 run to push their lead to 18-11. Maryland fought back to within a basket at 22-20 at the 8:30 mark of the first half, but the Blue Devils exploded on a 23-6 run to push the lead to 45-26 with less than two minutes remaining in the first half. Laura Kurz hit a three-pointer as time expired in the first half.

Maryland slowly chipped away at Duke's lead in the second half, closing to within 11 at 58-47 seven minutes into the half. Harding hit a shot to give Duke a 60-48 lead and neither team scored for almost three minutes. Two Maryland three-pointers further chipped Duke's lead to nine at the eight minute media timeout as the game stood at 62-53. After Shay Doron closed the gap to 10 points a the six-minute mark, Currie took over. Duke went on an 11-0 run as Currie scored seven in the run and after the four minute media timeout, Duke pushed its lead to 20 at 78-58.

Harding finished 7-of-9 from the field and added five rebounds, three assists and two steals in a season-high 38 minutes of action. Alison Bales finished with seven points while Mistie Williams, Laura Kurz and Wanisha Smith scored six apiece.

Duke, the highest-scoring team in the country, was held about 13 points under its average but held Maryland, the nation's second-leading scoring team, over 20 points under its season average.

Duke is in the first game of a four-game road trip and will next head to Atlanta, Ga., to face Georgia Tech Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET. After a trip to Massachusetts to take on Boston College and a non-conference game with Holy Cross, Duke will next be at home against N.C. State Jan. 19 at 7 p.m.