DURHAM, N.C.—Junior Karima Christmas registered a career-high 25 points as the eighth-ranked Blue Devils downed Maryland, 71-59, on Sunday afternoon in Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils won their 15th straight ACC game at home and are now one victory away from clinching first place in the ACC.
Joy Cheek added 17 points and junior Jasmine Thomas became the 26th player in Duke history to register 1,000 career points as she finished with eight.
Duke will next host Virginia on Friday, Feb. 26 at 8:30 p.m., which will mark senior night for Cheek, Keturah Jackson and Bridgette Mitchell.
For a full recap, click on www.GoDuke.com
Duke Head Coach Joanne P. McCallie
Opening statement:
“Just really proud of our fight in a 40-hour turnaround. We had a tough game at Georgia Tech and coming back to play. I’m really proud of our team’s poise and focus and their maturity in dealing with a situation where you don’t really have a practice per se before you play again. So, I’m very proud of our team, our effort, our fight especially in the second half in particular I thought we did some very good things there. Karima [Christmas] was outstanding. She was attacking at all times, very aggressive, very confident, and showed a tremendous amount of leadership on the floor, which was just so fun to watch. And Joy [Cheek] was incredible playing the three, playing the four, running different out of bounds plays from different spots when Jas[mine Thomas] was on the bench or KJ [Keturah Jackson] was out. We had enormous foul trouble; leadership was critical to this game, and Joy just stepped right into that role whether she was passing, whether she was scoring, or whether she simply was telling everybody what to do out there, or what defense to be in. It was a good game for us. We can play better, certainly, but it was a good game especially considering the circumstances.”
On this game’s similarities to the previous tough match-up at Georgia Tech:
“I think they look to each other, they’re a very confident group. I think KJ [Keturah Jackson] said it in the locker room. She said, ‘Our huddles are tight,’ she was sort of joking about it because I think they might have knocked heads or something. But, what I mean by that is I think our huddles are tight. I think this team is very focused, they’re all looking in the same direction, and they’re excited by the challenge at hand. We all know it’s not going to be easy. You can’t get thinking at all that lopsided scores are the way things go. You can have some lopsided games, but those are really not at all what it boils down to especially in the NCAA tournament. So, the bottom line is that you’ve got to love a fight, and I think this team keeps the huddles tight and loves the fight.”
On scores down the stretch off of offensive rebounds:
“I think we had great shots. I don’t view that as a struggle in any way. I thought we got to the foul line. I think an offensive rebound is as good a play as any play, and I like that we got put backs in different places that were necessary. I thought it was a great finish.”
On Karima Christmas’ play today:
“Karima can be a monster on the boards. She’s incredible that way. I just think it was her attack; she was not satisfied. She did hit some great shots as you saw, but she wasn’t just playing from the outside in, I think she played from the inside out meaning she was going off the dribble, going around people. Karima is so athletic that she has that ability in midair to sort of change directions. So, she could get around people at the rim and finish at the rim, and I think that’s very important. It was great to see. And like I said, Karima never looked tired either, and that was the beauty of it. Considering our situation, I really thought the team looked tough and strong, and actually got better as the game went. That’s what it appeared to me. The first half was a little funny feeling; we had to sort of dust ourselves off after the first half. But in the second half I thought we got better as the game went on.”
On finishing up ACC play strong:
“It’s all for the same thing: getting better, growing as a team, taking out team’s best players if we can, and getting ready for next. It’s all about March and building and getting better as a team, so we’ve got formidable opponents. We’ve got a nice hard finish here. As you know we’ve got Virginia coming in and then we’ve got an away game, so it’s all about getting better. And I think we are getting better, but we’ve got a lot to do on this rebounding. I don’t like these rebounding stats. We haven’t been rebounding to well, and we’re going to need to change that. So, we’ve got another opportunity in next game to try and get that changed around.”
Senior Joy Cheek
On how physical the game was:
“It doesn’t bother me. It was about as physical as the last team played that was physical. [Lynetta] Kizer’s very physical. I got checked a few times from her. It was a battle down there, but you know we came on top.”
On what got her going offensively:
“Just to be productive. You can’t play minutes and not do anything. So that was just my mind mindset. When I had a shot open a lot of times I hesitate. But tonight, I didn’t hesitate I just took the shots that were open and they were falling for me. I was trying to get on the boards the best I can and just make things happen. Pass the ball, whatever, to get our offense going.”
On the team’s outside shooting:
“I think that was credit to us just taking the shot. Like Karima said, we were thinking open is in. So we saw the basket, we didn’t have a defender, and we just shot the ball. And we had confidence that it was going in, and if it didn’t go in, we were trying to get on the boards. It was just shooting and taking open shots.”
On making the best pass:
“We always talk about that. Make the next pass because it will be the better pass. We always talk about moving the ball and getting the best shot that we can. I think we definitely did that during our position.”
On the intensity of the crowd:
“I actually thought about that. When Jasmine [Thomas] stole the ball and went in for the layup, it was loud. You need that because you can see their faces just drop. Even when we’re away, you feel that when a crowd gets pumped. And when you’re at home you need that. You want to shush them and get them worrying and make them tense. I can’t remember who I was looking at but remember thinking, ‘yeah we got them shook.’”
Junior Karima Christmas
On how physical the game was:
“Yes, it’s always fun to have a battle and go back and forth at each other. And obviously we work hard in the weight room so it shows off when we can be able to battle with other people.”
On how her confidence changed after her first 3-pointer:
“I think I just stayed focused. If I was open and I had the opportunity to shoot, I just shot like it was a regular shot. It wasn’t really confidence boosting, I just took the open shot.”
Head Coach Brenda Frese
Opening Statement:
“Like I told the team in the locker room, I’m really proud of our young team. To have five freshmen and four sophomores come in here and battle the No. 7 team in the country the way we did, in terms of the physicality of the game, the aggressiveness. Like I told them, the first 36 minutes, we were there. The last four minutes, you saw veterans for Duke step up and provide great leadership. And I thought the last four minutes of the game was the difference – the offensive rebounds, the fouls, the put-backs – things we could control, they did a tremendous job. Obviously, I think the five-point play – the first I think I’ve ever seen in my coaching career. Probably it was the difference in the game in terms of that play being made. But credit Duke’s defense. I thought they really were aggressive, forced us into a lot of turnovers.”
On Maryland’s play in the second half:
“Obviously, we had to play small. We were in serious foul trouble to have two players foul out. It changes the strategy in terms of what you’re doing. But you credit Bridgette Mitchell as a senior. She seems at both our place and here, I mean she just always seems to make a big play, and that’s what seniors do – they step up and make big plays, just like Lori [Bjork] has for us all season. But for us, we only have one senior on the roster. So that just was the difference in the game, I thought, in the second half.
On what the team can learn from the loss:
“I told them after the game, I still love where we’re playing at. There were moments and stretches in this game where I’m watching our defense and I’m watching our intensity, and we’re matching it on the road at Duke against a team that I think is really physical and extremely tough, and the ranking is deserving. Absolutely, and I feel like there’s still so much of the season left for us to be able to continue to gain momentum from this game with what we have left.”
On Maryland’s progress this season:
“When you look at our first ACC game to where we are now, and I think that’s the thing I’m most proud of, is that there was a point in this season this team could have folded. It just shows great character to be able to come out every single day to practice and just want to improve and want to get better.”
On getting a bid to the NCAA tournament:
“I think we just continue to take one day at a time. I think there’s a lot of basketball left for us – with the two games we have left, with the ACC tournament. When you play hard and you compete like we did today, those things will all take care of itself.”
On matching up with Duke:
“I think, first of all, our team believes we can beat them. I think that’s the first thing when you watch teams come in here and kind of lay an egg. We have the confidence because we’ve done it in the past. We love the matchup. It brings out the best in us. But I think rebounding-wise, we can match it, especially with the way they like to go to the offensive end. So, I think from that end, it’s been an area that’s helped us be successful against them.”
On limiting Duke’s Jasmine Thomas:
“If you would have told me before we started the game if we held Jasmine to eight points you were going to lose, I wouldn’t have believed you. I thought [Karima] Christmas was spectacular. Those three’s she hit from the three-point line, it was Christmas for her. I just thought she did a tremendous job and was a big difference, obviously, for them, stepping up and making those plays while Jasmine was in foul trouble.”
On Maryland’s defensive play:
“Minus those four minutes that got away from us – I think obviously, when you lose Diandra [Tchatchouang], which we did, and you lose that kind of 6-3 presence inside on the glass, we had to go smaller in terms of the zone and even our man matchups. I think that’s what hurt us. But absolutely, I feel like this team can rebound with anybody.”
Sophomore Center Lynetta Kizer
On the atmosphere at Cameron:
“It was a great atmosphere. All week we just talked about embracing it, and I think that’s what we did today – just embrace the atmosphere.”
Senior Guard Lori Bjork
On the rivalry with Duke:
“It’s a lot of fun. This is why, I think, everybody in a red uniform, why we came to Maryland. We wanted to play in these types of matchups, so it’s something that, like Lynetta said, we definitely embraced it and we wanted to play in it.”
On Duke limiting her in the second half:
“I think every team at this point knows that if they leave me wide open, I’m probably going to shoot it, and I might make it. They do a good job of identifying me. I just thought in the second half, their pressure didn’t necessarily give our guards a chance to even find me, because I thought they upped their pressure another level, and it was very hard to find me even when I was open.”
On Duke’s pressure late in the game:
“They were forcing us to take time off the clock, obviously, at the end, in the last four minutes or so. We’ve just got to attack the basket, and I thought we showed some signs of doing that, and that’s what we have to build off of.”
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