Thomas Leads No. 4 Duke To 81-67 Win Over No. 17 Virginia

Thursday, February 5

Charlottesville, Va.

7:00 p.m.

Duke University

Virginia

Thomas Leads No. 4 Duke To 81-67 Win Over No. 17 Virginia

2/5/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

By: Associated Press

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. ? With its top two scorers struggling on offense, No. 4 Duke needed other players to pick up the slack Thursday night. When Jasmine Thomas and Karima Christmas took it upon themselves to be those players, the Blue Devils made it look easy.

Thomas matched her career high with 22 points and Christmas added 18 as Duke broke open a three-point game with an 11-0 second-half run to beat No. 17 Virginia 81-67.

"What we saw tonight is we saw different players being able to step up and kind of put a dagger in Virginia," senior guard Abby Waner said. "Jasmine did it on multiple occasions, Karima did it and Chante (Black) did it a couple of times. You just have to keep your poise, keep your composure. There's nothing like stopping a run and taking the wind out of a team."

On a night when Black missed most of the first half with foul trouble and Waner missed her first seven shots, first Christmas and then Thomas led by attacking the basket.

Christmas scored 10 points as Duke (19-2, 7-1 ACC) used a 27-9 run over the last 6:33 of the first half to take a 33-25 halftime lead. Thomas scored 14 of her points in the second half and helped key the run that finally put Virginia away.

Virginia twice closed to within three with about 9 minutes to play, but Thomas and Waner scored four each in an 11-0 run that restored their advantage.

"I was just focused on getting into the paint and getting to the basket," Thomas said. "In the first half, I settled a lot for outside shots and then I saw how easily (Christmas) was getting in there, and I was like, 'Hey, we can all get in there,' so I just started attacking."

The approach led to Duke outscoring the Cavaliers 48-20 in the paint.

Virginia (18-5, 4-5) lost its 15th consecutive meeting with Duke. The Cavaliers came in on a three-game winning streak, including a victory against Maryland that ended a 17-game slide against the ACC's top three programs: Maryland, North Carolina and the Blue Devils.

Lyndra Littles led Virginia with 29 points and Monica Wright added 21, but the rest of the team totaled just 17 points and the absence of a third scoring option really hurt.

So, too, did the Cavaliers' inability to stop Duke after getting back into contention.

"We could not get a stop," coach Debbie Ryan said. "It wasn't the people that normally would hurt you. It was Jasmine Thomas and Karima Christmas that really made the difference."

Virginia trailed by its biggest deficit to that point at 46-36 with 11:35 left before Littles' 3-pointer sparked a 9-2 run that brought them to within three. It was still three with 9 minutes to go before Carrem Gay's 15-footer sent the Blue Devils on the 11-0 burst.

"We did not defend and that's the only way we score," Ryan said.

Chante Black added 13 points and seven rebounds and Waner scored 10 for Duke.

The Cavaliers held Duke to six points on 3-for-19 shooting and forced nine turnovers to build a 16-6 lead after 13? minutes before the Blue Devils finally started playing well.

Over the last 6:33 of the half, Christmas scored 10 points and Duke outscored Virginia 27-9 to take a 33-25 lead into the intermission. Duke made 8 of its last 11 shots from the floor, while the Cavaliers were just 8-of-26 overall in the half and had 10 turnovers.