No. 3 Duke Dominates No. 1 Maryland, 81-62

Saturday, January 13

Durham, N.C.

12:30 p.m.

Duke University

Maryland

No. 3 Duke Dominates No. 1 Maryland, 81-62

1/13/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

By: Duke Sports Information

AP and Duke Staff Reports

DURHAM, N.C. - Lindsey Harding scored a career-high 28 points and Alison Bales flirted with a triple-double and No. 3 Duke routed top-ranked Maryland 81-62 Saturday here at Cameron Indoor Stadium in a rematch of last season's national championship game.

Bales finished with 18 points, 12 rebounds and seven blocked shots for the Blue Devils, who improve to 18-0 overall and 4-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Maryland falls to 18-1 overall and 2-1 in the ACC.

Duke's smothering defense dominated a Maryland offense which entered with the nation's best field-goal percentage at 53.8 percent. The Terrapins were held to 37.8 percent by the Blue Devils - who have the country's stingiest defense - and were held 1-of-15 shooting during the final 5:49 of the first half.

The Terrapins got off to a quick start, opening an early 8-4 lead before Duke responded with a 7-0 run with back-to-back three-pointers from Harding and Wanisha Smith giving the Blue Devils a 11-8 advantage.

The two teams played evenly for the next four minutes and with Maryland up 20-19, Duke responded with another 7-0 run to take a 26-20 lead at the under-eight-minute media timeout. Smith and Emily Waner both hit from behind the arc in that run. Maryland cut the lead to 28-26 before yet another 7-0 run gave Duke a 35-38 lead at the final media timeout of the first half. Harding then scored the final six points of the half to give the Blue Devils a 41-30 advantage at the break while Bales had three big blocks late in the first half on the defensive end.

Harding then scored the first four points of the second half for Duke as they held off a quick run from Maryland and build its lead to 49-34 less than two minutes into the second half. Maryland made two pushes to bring the lead under 10 points, first at 51-43 but a conventional three-point play from Harding pushed the lead back to 54-43, and then again at 54-47, but Duke responded with a 10-0 run to push the lead to 17 at 64-47. Bales scored six of Duke's 10 points in that run.

Duke's lead hit the 20 point mark with five minutes remaining at 73-53 after another layup from Harding and Duke's biggest lead came at 22 points after Abby Waner hit back-to-back three pointers to make the score 81-59 with under a minute remaining. Maryland hit a late three pointer for the 81-62 final score.

Harding added eight rebounds and four assists with no turnovers to go with her 28 points. She hit 10-of-21 from the field and 7-of-9 from the free throw line. Bales hit 9-of-15 from the field for her 18 points. Smith finished with 15 points and five rebounds while Abby Waner recorded 11 points, four rebounds, two steals and a game-high seven assists with just one turnover.

Emily Waner and Bridgette Mitchell came off the bench and played well. Emily Waner finished with three points, a career-high four steals and two assists while Mitchell had four points. Carrem Gay had seven rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a steal to go with two points, as well.

Duke won its sixth game against a ranked team this season, and for the Blue Devils, this one clearly was the most satisfying. Maryland beat Duke 78-75 in an overtime thriller in the national title game last April, a classic that included Kristi Toliver's game-tying 3-pointer at the end of regulation.

This time, the Blue Devils wouldn't give Toliver another chance to break their hearts, holding her to eight points - and just two at halftime on 0-of-8 shooting - before she exited with 5:37 remaining after apparently injuring her ankle.

The Blue Devils have also won three straight over the nation's top-ranked team dating back to the 2003-04 season. Last year, Duke dominated No. 1 Tennessee 75-53 and in 2003-04, Duke won at No. 1 Connecticut on a last-second three-pointer from Jessica Foley, 68-67.

Duke will hit the court again Thursday with a trip across the triangle to face N.C. State in Raleigh at 7 p.m. The game will be shown on ACC Select with Duke's radio broadcast availalbe on Duke Inside Access.