Tomko: Duke D Suffocates Yellow Jackets

DURHAM, N.C. ? On the day when the 1999 Duke Final Four team was honored at halftime, the Blue Devils put together a defensive effort that had to draw smiles from the 10 former Blue Devils in attendance.

“I think a lot of us from the 1999 team are proud of helping the program progress,” Hilary Howard, a senior on the 1999 team, said. “The program has come a long way in ten years. I think we take some pride in how well the team is doing.”

From the opening tip the former Blue Devils must have been proud of the effort they saw on the court in the 60-34 win.

Duke (17-1, 5-0) suffocated the Georgia Tech offense holding them to 18 percent shooting in the first half and 25 percent for the game.

In the first half Carrem Gay set the tone defensively blocking three shots, forcing two steals and corralling four rebounds in 13 first half minutes.

“She [Gay] played great defense, very physical,” Joanne P. McCallie said. “I was very pleased with Carrem's intensity off the bench. I thought she did a great job, very good defensively.”

During an 11:09 stretch during the first half the Blue Devils did not allow a field goal. The Yellow Jackets finally broke that shooting stretch with nine seconds left in the half, but by then it was too late.

Duke forced 11 turnovers during that stretch and pushed their lead to 30-13 at the half.

“It was just a great team game,” McCallie said. “I really thought the first half was critical of the way our team dictated defensively. Holding a team to shooting 18 percent a half usually bodes well for intensity and developing some things there.”

The Blue Devils took advantage of the 16 first half turnovers they forced, turning them into 20 points in their favor.

To cause the 16 first half turnovers and 26 total for the game, McCallie switched up here defensive sets between man-to-man and zone keeping the Yellow Jackets, who were coming off a 66-62 come-from-behind victory over No. 2 ranked North Carolina on Thursday night.

“I thought we got better in our defenses today, which was really good,” McCallie said. “Just try to mix it up and keep people off balance as much as possible.”

Offensively for the Blue Devils, McCallie was pleased with the improvement she saw since the N.C. State game.

Duke didn't force the quick shot on the offensive ending, taking time to run their sets and work for an open look. The patience and poise led to Duke shooting 50 percent (18-of-36) from the floor.

The poise led to longer offensive possession which proved draining on the Yellow Jackets in the second half defensively resulting in more fouls, which sent Duke to the line 20 times.

The Blue Devils missed only two free throws in the second half and finished 19-of-24 (.792) for the game.

“I was really pleased to see us get to the free throw line 24 times as well,” McCallie said. “It was a very physical game and we really didn't go to the free throw line too often in the first half, a bit better at that in the second half.”

For future opponents, the scary thing is that this may have not been the team's best defense game of the year.

Abby Waner, who led the way offensively with 14 points on 4-of-8 (.500) shooting, wouldn't commit to calling it that, referring to their play versus Temple as superior to today's performance and saying this year's team can only get better in the coming weeks.

“We are on an ascent, I guess you could say,” Waner added. “We haven't peaked yet. We are very strong. I think we are a dangerous team, but we are still not playing at our best. That is different than teams in the past that I have played with.”

“I am really excited to see where we are in two weeks, in three weeks,” Waner added.