Category Archives: Duke Women’s Basketball

#4 Duke Women defeat Maryland 68-65 on “Big Monday”

January 13, 2009 Mark Watson

Duke defeated a pesky Maryland team 68-65 in a a game that was televised nationally by ESPN. The network came in for "Big Monday" and the Blue Devils came out with a big win to go to 2-0 in the

Queen of the floor burn, Waner has 20 steals in her last four games

ACC and 14-1 overall.

The teams opened the game trading blows which is to be expected in this rivalry. There were 17 lead changes in the game and 15 of them were in the first twenty minutes of play. Once Duke took the lead 21-20 on a Joy Cheek lay up, they took control to take a 40-29 lead into half time.

There were two key factors in their first half success. One was Joy Cheek who had 11 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists. In fact, Cheek had 9 of Dukes first twelve points and ended the game with14 points and 11 rebounds after returning to the starting lineup.

The other factor was Waner and Thomas defensive effort on Kristi Tolliver who was held scoreless.

Thomas was four of four from the free throw stripe in the final eight seconds.

But Toliver and the Terps warmed up in the second half and at the 8:38 mark, took the lead 55-54 on a Wiley-Gatewood three point shot.

Just after that play Abby Waner came back with an assist to Chante Black to take the lead back. Waner later hit a layup which stretched the lead to 64-60, but Marisa Coleman cut it to two with a lay up of her own at the other end at the 1:00 mark.

The Duke defense played tough and Maryland couldn't find the mark as Toliver missed a long three in front of the Maryland bench with 13 ticks on the clock. The Terps then fouled Jasmine Thomas who went to the line and calmly dropped two in to give the Devils a 66-62 advantage.

One might have thought the game was sealed, but Tolliver drained a quick three to make it a 66-65

Duke got a good efforts from multiple players

Duke lead. Tolliver immediately committed a hard foul on Thomas with two second left, but the sophomore stepped to the line and knocked down both helping the Devils to a 68-65 win.

“That was just great man-to-man defense by our team. We wanted to make sure she was contested in a multiple fashion, if possible, because you can’t get the ball out of her hands, so you have to do something to direct the shot as much as possible,” said McCallie on the play of her defense in the final seconds.

Waner added, "I pulled Jas [Jasmine Thomas] aside and told her ‘Make this free throw because trust me it matters’. There are certain things that you learn from losses and I will never take a three-point lead with a few seconds to go for granted."

Thomas had one of her better games of the season scoring 15 points and despite being one of the

A seson high 7550 cheering fans were in Cameron

teams worst free throw shooters she went 6 of 7 from the charity stripe.

Chante Black was strong in the second half and ended the game with 13 points and a career high 14 rebounds.

Abby Waner grabbed 8 rebounds, 7 on the defensive end scored 13 points and dished out 4 assists and 3 steals, both team highs. Waner has now had a phenomenal 20 steals in her last four contests.

"The plays Abby made down the stretch were huge, fun to watch really, plus her eight rebounds were absolutely important to us," Said Coach McCallie during the post game press conference.

Duke got a lot of energy from Bridgette Mitchell off the bench. Mitchell had 6 points and 6 rebounds. Another key contributor was Krsytal Thomas who tallied 4 points and 4 rebounds in just seven minutes of play.

The Terps were led by Marrissa Coleman with 14 points, Lynetta Kizer who suffered with cramps 12

Tolliver hit a huge shot to pull Maryland within 1 with seconds left in the contest — Tolliverhit a huge shot to pull Maryland within 1 with seconds left in the contest

points, Toliver 12 points and Anjale Barrett with 10 points.

Duke handily out rebounded the Terps 56-39 and overcame 25.6% shooting from the field in the final half to win. Another huge plus in the win was the Devils going 12 of 14 from the free throw stripe.

Sidebar Comments -

How big is this win for Duke?

It's plenty big. Big win on a big Monday. This is the best start of McCallies career and she has her most talented team ever. Duke has adjusted to her coaching style which is aggressive physical play and good defense. Duke proved before a

national audience that they definitely deserve their #4 ranking.

Jasmine Thomas -

This game should go a long way with concerns to her confidence. The second year guard is becoming more consistent, but Coach P made a telling comment when she said, Jasmine played well in spots.

Senior leadership -

Chante Black showed up big when it counted and Abby was a true leader on both ends of the floor tonight.

Duke depth -

Coach P has done a good job at build her depth and there seems to be a lot of players able to step

up on a given night. This will be especially critical come tournament time.

The Box -

                          TOT-FG 3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
13 Demauria Liles...... f 3-10   0-0    0-0    5 5 10   4   6 2 2 0 1 35
25 Marissa Coleman..... f 6-14   2-3    0-0    3 2 5   0 14 3 2 0 3 31
12 Lynetta Kizer....... c 5-11   0-0    2-6    7 6 13   2 12 0 2 0 1 30
02 Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood g 3-10   3-5    0-0    0 1 1   0   9 0 1 0 1 26
20 Kristi Toliver...... g 5-16   2-9    0-0    1 3 4   3 12 6 4 2 3 38
10 Anjale Barrett......    4-6    2-3    0-0    0 4 4   1 10 4 0 0 0 25
14 Yemi Oyefuwa........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0 0 0   0   0 0 0 0 0   1
24 Drey Mingo..........    1-3    0-0    0-0    0 0 0   1   2 0 1 0 0 14
   TEAM................                            2 2
   Totals..............   27-70   9-20   2-6   16 23 39 11 65 15 12 2 9 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-37 35.1%   2nd Half: 14-33 42.4%   Game: 38.6% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-7 28.6%   2nd Half: 7-13 53.8%   Game: 45.0%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 1-3 33.3%   2nd Half: 1-3 33.3%   Game: 33.3%    1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOME TEAM: #5/10 Duke 14-1 (2-0 ACC)
                          TOT-FG 3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
21 Joy Cheek........... f 5-16   1-5    3-4    7 4 11   3 14 2 1 1 1 27
31 Keturah Jackson..... f 0-4    0-0    0-0    1 5 6   2   0 1 1 0 2 17
11 Chante Black........ c 5-15   0-0    3-3    8 6 14   3 13 3 4 3 2 35
04 Abby Waner.......... g 4-11   2-5    0-0    1 7 8   1 10 4 3 0 3 37
05 Jasmine Thomas...... g 4-10   1-3    6-7    0 1 1   2 15 2 1 0 0 34
03 Shay Selby..........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0 0 0   0   0 0 0 0 0   2
13 Karima Christmas....    2-4    0-0    0-0    1 0 1   2   4 1 1 0 0 21
15 Bridgette Mitchell..    3-9    0-0    0-0    6 0 6   2   6 0 0 0 0   9
30 Carrem Gay..........    1-2    0-0    0-0    0 3 3   0   2 1 3 0 0 11
34 Krystal Thomas......    2-5    0-0    0-0    1 3 4   0   4 0 0 2 0   7
   TEAM................                         1 1 2
   Totals..............   26-76   4-13 12-14 26 30 56 15 68 14 14 6 8 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 16-37 43.2%   2nd Half: 10-39 25.6%   Game: 34.2% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-9 33.3%   2nd Half: 1-4 25.0%   Game: 30.8%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-5 100 %   2nd Half: 7-9 77.8%   Game: 85.7%    3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Officials: Eric Brewton, Dee Kantner, Edward Sidlasky
Technical fouls: #12/15 Maryland-None. #5/10 Duke-None.
Attendance: 7550
Score by Periods                1st 2nd   Total
#12/15 Maryland...............   29   36 -   65
#5/10 Duke....................   40   28 -   68

Points in the paint-MARYL 28,DUKE 36. Points off turnovers-MARYL 7,DUKE 11.
2nd chance points-MARYL 11,DUKE 15. Fast break points-MARYL 6,DUKE 4.
Bench points-MARYL 12,DUKE 16. Score tied-1 time. Lead changed-17 times.
Last FG-MARYL 2nd-00:04, DUKE 2nd-01:27.
Largest lead-MARYL by 3 1st-14:08, DUKE by 13 1st-00:44.

Duke Women's Basketball

Christmas leads Duke Women to a 73-58 win in their ACC opener

January 10, 2009 Mark Watson

[private]The Duke Blue Devil Women scratched out a 73-58 victory over Miami on Saturday before a season high 7310 fans in Cameron Indoor Stadium. It took a second half surge and a career high 21 points from Karima Christmas for the Devils to win their ACC opener and go to 13-1 on the season.

Duke jumped out to a 28-15 lead, but then went cold and Miami took advantage making a 13-0 run to tie the contest 28 a piece at the 2:32 mark of the first half. Former Duke player and Miami coach

Abby Waner (3 steals) and Karima Christmas (6 steals) hit the floor

Katie Meyer had her women fired up and while Duke regained the lead, a Latoya James jumper sent the teams in to the locker room where the heavily favored Blue Devils held a slim two point lead.

In the second half, Duke resorted to their trademark which is defense holding the Canes to 31.4% from from the floor. Of course dominating the boards to the tune of 48-27 helped their cause as well.

Pressure defense was vital to the Devils run and several steals allowed for big plays and brought the crowd alive. Miami hung in most of the game with their pressure as well, scoring 26 points off turnovers. The youthful Canes were led by Epihany Woodson with 16 points, but their leading scorer Shenise Johnson was held to just 3 points.

Chante Black was once again steady tallying 17 points and 12 rebounds. Joy Cheek chipped in with 12 points and Jasmine Thomas with 9 points.

But it was indeed Karina Christmas's night where she seemed very much in the flow of the game going 7 of 10 from the field to go with 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 6 steals. Christmas also had a career high in three point buckets with three and her six steals were also a personal best.

“I think I’m just eager to get into the game, to try and make something happen, try and feed off my teammates, and make them feed off of me. I’m just motivated when I get in the game," said Christmas after her performance.

Miami Coach Katie Meyer stated, "Karima Christmas blew our scout – we don’t have her scouted for some of the stuff she did tonight, and that makes Duke a very tough team if she’s going to shoot the ball like that. That was not a good Christmas present."

Christmas had a career night against Miami

Abby Waner was saddled with foul trouble and played only 18 minutes. She eventually fouled out going scoreless, but managed 4 rebounds and 5 assists and 3 steals when in the game. In fact, she is now second in the all time Duke record book for steals with 272, where she passed Iciss Tillis. Her first half defense also slowed down Miami's Woodson before she had to go to the bench.

Duke also continued to show off their depth in that the Devils bench outscored the Canes 41-12. It was the fifth time in the last six games that the bench scored 40 plus points which is quite an accomplishment.

The 13-1 start is also Joanne P. McCallies best start in her 17 years as a coach.

The Blue Devils take an 11 game winning streak into Monday evenings contest with Maryland. When asked if she was already think about Maryland, McCallie responded,

“We start thinking about them now. All the games matter, there are 14 conference games and every one of them is of equal value. I know that there are rivalries but as coaches we do the same thing for every one."

Maryland (1-0 ACC, 13-2) has become quite the rival after several key match ups in the past few years. Just over 7000 tickets have been sold for the game, but there are some good seats still available according to Duke SID Lindy Brown. The game will be televised ESPN 2 with the ball being tip off at 7:30 EST.[/private]

Duke Women's Basketball

Duke Women rip Temple 87-52

January 6, 2009 Mark Watson

[private]DURHAM, N.C.—Freshman Shay Selby registered a career-high 14 points, while senior Chante Black added 15 for the fifth-ranked Blue Devils as Duke downed Temple, 87-52, on Monday evening at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils forced Temple to 29 turnovers marking the fourth straight contest the Duke defense has forced an opponent to 29 or more turnovers in a single game.

Jasmine Thomas chipped in 11 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Blue Devils and Joy Cheek added 13 points and eight rebounds as Duke won its 10th straight contest.

Duke will next host Miami on Friday, Jan. 9 at 7:00 p.m.[/private]

Duke Women's Basketball

Duke stages an amazing comeback to defeat USC

December 20, 2008 Mark Watson

[private]LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- The eighth-ranked Duke women's basketball team registered one of its largest comebacks in school history on Friday night at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, Calif. The Blue Devils faced a 17-point deficit with 11:17 remaining in regulation but came back to win 97-89 over Southern California in overtime.

Senior Abby Waner hit a three-pointer with 17 seconds remaining to cut the Trojan lead to 81-80 and nailed a short jump hook with three seconds left to send the game into overtime. Duke outscored USC, 15-7, in overtime to register the victory. Sophomore Jasmine Thomas scored a career-high 22 points, while Chante Black notched 22 points and Carrem Gay added 14 points and 12 rebounds for Duke.

Duke will next face Siena (2-7) on Saturday in the Women of Troy Basketball Classic at 10:00 p.m. (EDT).

---

Blue Devil Postgame Notes
#8/12 Duke at Southern California * December 19, 2008

With The Duke Victory:
*       Improved to 8-1 on the season.
*       Coach P improved to 2-1 all-time against Southern California.
Senior Chante Black
*       Registered double-figure scoring for the ninth straight game to open the season.
*       Posted 22 points marking the second time this season she has notched 20+ points.
Freshman Shay Selby
*       Hit a career-high two three-pointers on two attempts and finished with a career-high 11 points and five rebounds.
Senior Carrem Gay
*       Pulled down a season-high 12 rebounds in 38 minutes to go along with 14 points.
*       Posted nine offensive rebounds on the night.
*       Notched her second double-double of the season and fourth of her career.
Sophomore Karima Christmas
*       Coming off scoring a career-high 14 points against No. 3 Stanford, she scored nine points, had five rebounds and two steals in 14 minutes.
Sophomore Jasmine Thomas
*       In her second game back from her knee injury, registered 10 first half points and went on to finish the game with a career-high 22 points.
Senior Abby Waner
*       Scored five straight points to close out regulation to send the game into overtime. Finished with 10 points for the game.
Freshman Chelsea Hopkins
*       Missed the game due to surgery on her left knee, which was an injury that occurred at Western Kentucky on Nov. 28.
.
Other Duke Notes:
*       Trailed by 17 (66-49) in the second half, which was the largest deficit of the season for the Blue Devils.
*       Posted its largest come-back since being down 20 at Connecticut on Jan. 3, 2004.
*       Notched five double-figure scorers for the first time this season.
*       The 97 points was the most scored by a Duke team coached by Joanne P. McCallie.
*       Allowed 41 points and a 44.1 field goal percentage in the first half, which were the second highest totals on the season.
*       The 53.6 field goal percentage in the first half was the second-best this season by the Blue Devils.
*       Turned the ball over 14 times in the first half and finished with 29 for the game.
*       Scored a season-high 45 bench points.
*       Allowed a season-high 43.1 field goal percentage.
*       Had a season-high 97 points, but tied a season low with eight assists.
*       Allowed a season-high 89 points for the game.
*       Hit a season-high seven three-pointers.
*       Played in its first overtime game since April 4, 2006 in the National Championship game
*       Assistant Coach Shannon Perry made way back to USC for the first time since she was an assistant coach with the Trojans from 2000-04.
*       Duke next take on Siena on Saturday, Dec. 20 at 10:00 p.m. (EDT) to close out the Women of Troy Basketball Classic.
---[/private]

Duke Women's Basketball

McCallie has Duke buying into defense – big win over Stanford

December 17, 2008 Mark Watson

[private]The buzzer sounded in Cameron as the Duke Women upset the third rated Stanford Cardinal 56-52. As one might expect several of the victorious Blue Devils ran about the court in glee, but not Coach McCallie.

After Stanford coach Tara Vanderveer gave McCallie a cold fish hand shake, the second year Blue Devil coach calmly walked off the court, glancing back at her players as if to say we have to get on a flight to Los Angeles tomorrow to take on Southern Cal and Sienna in back to back games.

It was one of McCallies three most impressive wins as a coach at Duke. The other two, Maryland and Rutgers came last season and she obviously has hopes that there are more big wins to be had as the season progresses.

During the press conference McCallie, known to most as Coach P acted as if she expected to win over one of the countries better programs. She certainly praised her teams defensive effort which included a suffocating array of pressing defenses which resulted in 23 Cardinal turnovers.

McCallie also praised her teams effort on the boards where they completely dominated the glass after being dominated on them in the first half. She mentioned the effort of both teams in what was a physical match up. In fact, Stanford Coach VanDerveer more or less whined about bodies hitting the floor just minutes before.

What McCallie didn't do was respond to any questions concerning the losing coaches comments, nor did she seemingly act any different with this victory than proceeding ones this season. She instead kept the focus on her team and she once again prefaced her opening comments with "We can do a whole lot of things better.""

While McCallie may not have tipped her hand with a broad smile after the victory, she had to be elated with the victory. it was a big step towards her goal of continuing to prepare for a deeper run in March. She was clearly already thinking of the next game and while I don't know this for certain, the message to the team may have been we are supposed to do this, we are going to win like this and lets act like it.

So in a night where the ESPN camera crew asked her to come back out for an interview in front of a nationwide audience, McCallie served notice that her "smack you in the mouth" defense is a new, firm and solid staple for the program and that Duke can succeed with that style.

More importantly her team has developed depth, confidence and is playing together. The Dukies seem poised to turn another corner but to do so they must put this big win behind them and be ready for a quick turnaround, flying cross country to take on USC.

Judging from last nights performance and comments, Coach P recognizes this and hopefully her team realizes that consistency and two wins out West, will move them up the ladder one step closer to the top.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Duke climbed to 8-1 on the season and won their 26th game versus a non conferences opponent out of the last 27 home games. McCallie holds a 3-0 record versus Stanford Coach VanDerveer and won her third contest against a top five ranked team in under two seasons at Duke.

One of the stats which stood out was the fact that Duke outscored a tall Stanford team 12-1 on second chance points.

Duke came up big at the free throw stripe as well going 17-22. Duke also won the battle of the boards 40-39 after trailing 22-11 at the half.

The Games MVP - Sophomore Karima Christmas had a career high of 14 points and a career high of 9 rebounds as well. She hit here first three pointer of her career and ended up 2 for 2 betond the stripe.

Duke next plays at Southern Cal on 12-19 in a game televised on FSNW.[/private]

Duke Women's Basketball

Duke Women shut down Michigan 60-45

December 8, 2008 Mark Watson

[private]CAMERON INDOOR STADIUM -The Duke Women's Basketball used a suffocating defense to defeat Michigan 60-45 which pushed their record to 6-1. The Blue Devils held the Wolverines to just 29% shooting from the field where they completely controlled the paint. In fact, Duke outrebounded their opponent 46-22.

“This was obviously a great game for us to get better. I really appreciated the way the team came out in the second half in particular and really found each other. They took apart the defense and did a really sharp job there. I like the balanced scoring, everyone was active in attacking, and to out-rebound them by 24 was significant. We have not been dominating on the boards. It’s important for us to be dominating, to create that habit. We’re still working on getting to the free throw line and playing more physically. No, I don’t like the turnover number, but I understand the issues at hand right now and we’ll move forward and learn from those things. I thought that there was great leadership on the floor at all different points, whether it was Abby [Waner] leading and having to play a whole lot of minutes out there, or Carrem Gay who did some great things, really leading us defensively. We had solid senior leadership in this game," stated Coach McCallie.

Duke was led in scoring by Chante Black with 13 points and had by four total players in double figures. Black also had 6 blocks moving her to seventh place on the All Time ACC list.

“I watched film after games and I saw that there are times when I can be a little more aggressive calling for the ball. I just tried to be a little more active this game and try and get the defense to make mistakes. And my teammates did a good job looking for me and seeing that I was open," stated Gay when questioned about her being aggressive on the offensive end.

Joy Cheek and Abby Waner were the other two Dukies in double figure scoring with 12 and 11 points respectively. Cheek had back to back three pointers in the contest while Waner tallied three total treys.

Speaking of treys, Michigan had trouble finding anything inside against the Duke defense. A total of 30 of their 45 points came from beyond the three point stripe.

In somewhat of a statistical anomaly, Michigan made 20 steals, many due to a Duke season high 30 turnovers.

With PG's Jasmine Thomas and Chelsea Hopkins out, you could sense a need for consistency in play making.

Keturah Jackson ran the point and had four assists, but she missed the last ten minutes with a hip pointer. While she is expected back for the Stanford game, the early season injuries on Blue Devil guards have been brutal.

The Blue Devils will now concentrate on the classroom during their exam break before facing their most formidable challenge of the young season in a home game against Stanford. Their are still some seats available and the contest tips off on December 16th at 7:30 and will be televised by ESPN.[/private]