Download Free Acrobat Reader
Alana Beard To Return Home Saturday As Duke Travels To NWS...
One of the all-time best athletes from Shreveport, La., Alana Beard, will make her return home on Saturday as the third-ranked Duke basketball team will play against Northwestern State at 1:00 p.m. at the CentryTel Center in Bossier City, La.
Prior to the game on Saturday, Beard will be presented with the 2003 MainStay Independence Bowl's Sports Person of the Year award.
The Blue Devils have won six straight contests by a 45.7 margin since opening the season with a loss to Texas. Two of the five victories have come against ranked opponents- Auburn and Purdue.
Noting The Blue Devils...
On Dec. 17, Duke had all 13 players practice for the first time this season due to injuries ... Jessica Foley leads the ACC with a 2.80 assist/turnover ratio as she is averaging 4.0 assists to only 1.4 turnovers ... the Blue Devils have won the past 18 consecutive true road contests ... over the last four years, Duke is 25-7 against ranked opponents ... as of Dec. 12, Duke has notched 3,840 season ticket holders, which is over 500 more than last year's number of 3,328 ... of Duke's 13 members on the team, 10 are high school All-America selections ... sophomore walk-on Dana Morgan, senior walk-on Kalita Marsh and Australian native Jessica Foley are the only players who weren't All-Americas.
A Look At Northwestern State...
As of Dec. 17, Northwestern State owns a 5-1 record, but plays versus Arkansas on Thursday in Hot Springs, Ark. prior to playing Duke on Saturday. The Lady Demons are led by Diamond Cosby (20.3 points, 4.0 rebounds), Amanda Bennett (15.0 points, 10.8 rebounds) and Chassidy Jones (15.0 points, 5.5 rebounds). Senior La'Terrica Dobin, who has led the nation the past two years in assists per game, was injured in the first game of the season with a broken wrist and is expected to return against Arkansas on Thursday.
Northwestern State is coming off a 17-11 overall, 14-6 Southland Conference record in 2002-03.
The Series With Northwestern State...
Duke and Northwestern State will meet for only the second time in school history on Saturday. The only other meeting came back on Mar. 21, 1986 in the WNIT in Amarillo, Texas. Northwestern State won the contest 89-88.
Hey, I Know You!...
Alana Beard will go up against two former AAU basketball teammates on Saturday as Katherine Greieder and Diamond Cosby each play for the Lady Demons. Beard grew up with Greieder and is very good friends with her. During the trip to Louisiana, Duke will practice at Beard's high school, Southwood, and will head to her church, Greenwood Acres Baptist, to have a dinner.
Duke Vs. The Southland Conference...
Duke owns a career record of 5-1 against Southland Conference opponents-- Southeastern Louisiana (1-0), Northwestern State (0-1), McNeese State (1-0), Stephen F. Austin (1-0) and Texas-San Antonio (1-0).
Caitlin Howe Cleared To Play...
After missing most of the last three years of basketball, Duke redshirt freshman Caitlin Howe returned to practice on Tuesday in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Howe was cleared to practice on Sunday, Dec. 14 and participated in the two-hour practice on Tuesday. She is expected to play against Northwestern State.
A native of Rochester, N.Y., Howe suffered torn ACL injuries during her junior and senior years of high school and last season at Duke. She played in an exhibition game in 2002-03 for the Blue Devils but never had enough stability in her knee to play in a regular season contest and ended up having surgery.
Howe was a McDonald's High School All-America selection in 2002 and scored 2,001 points in her varsity career, which began in seventh grade. In her first game of her senior year, Howe scored two points to go over 2,000 points in her career before suffering her second torn ACL shortly after. As a junior, she averaged 24.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 3.6 steals.
Alana Beard Receives Mock Cover...
It all started with a Sports Illustrated Question & Answer in the Dec. 1 issue. In the article, Alana Beard was asked "You once said that if you could be on the cover of any magazine, it would be FORTUNE. What's the headline?"
Beard responded, "Alana Beard: The Second Wealthiest African-American Woman in the World Behind Oprah Winfrey."
The staff at FORTUNE saw this Q&A and wanted to make Alana's dream come true and they sure did. On www.fortune.com, Andy Serwer writes a column called "Street Life" and in the section of Loose Change, they wrote the following-
From Kate B.: "When we saw a recent SI Q&A with the stunningly talented Alana Beard of the Duke women's b-ball team, we were pleasantly surprised to see FORTUNE's name pop up. Beard said that if she could be on any magazine cover, it would be ours, with a coverline of her design. Well, Alana, take a look at what we've done for you-here is (not real-just a mockup of course) your cover, complete with said cover line. Now it's up to you to make it come true!"
Top Scorers...
Through games of Dec. 15, Duke owns four players in the top nine of the ACC stats- Alana Beard (3rd, 18.0), Iciss Tillis (5th, 16.6), Monique Currie (8th, 13.4) and Mistie Bass (9th, 13.4). Beard leads the ACC with a 3.29 steals average, Bass leads the ACC with a 69.4 field goal percentage, Tillis leads with a 100.0 free throw percentage and Jessica Foley leads the assist/turnover ratio category (2.80).
Blue Devils Add Kalita Marsh...
Head Coach Gail Goestenkors added a second walk-on to the 2003-04 roster last week when senior Kalita Marsh joined the team. Marsh, a native of Wilson, N.C., has been a manager for the Blue Devils the past three years and played club basketball at Duke. Marsh and sophomore Dana Morgan are the two walk-ons on the 2003-04 roster. In her first game of her career, Marsh had four points and one rebound.
Hunter Progressing With Knee Injury...
With almost three weeks passed since freshman Brittany Hunter's knee surgery on Nov. 25, she is progressing well and saw her first time back on the court on Dec. 17. No timetable has been set for her return, but is hoping after Christmas she will be able to play again.
After a very successful showing in the first two games of her collegiate career, Hunter, the 2003 Parade High School National Player of the Year, was injured against Purdue in the first six minutes of the contest. Hunter had a slight tear in her lateral meniscus and will miss approximately four weeks, after undergoing surgery on her right knee. The surgery was performed on Nov. 25 by Dr. Alison Toth.
In her collegiate debut, Hunter had 16 points, five rebounds and five blocks off the bench. The Columbus, Ohio, product hit 8-of-11 from the field for the contest.
In her second game against Elon, Hunter hit 6-of-10 field goals and finished with 15 points, eight rebounds and three steals. In the two games, Hunter averaged 15.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.0 blocks and 3.0 steals, while hitting 66.7 percent of her field goals.
Injury Update...
The preseason for the Blue Devils was the worst for head coach Gail Goestenkors in her 12 years at Duke as far as injuries go. Almost every single player has had something go wrong with them since the conclusion of last season. Iciss Tillis (hip), Brittany Hunter (feet, knee), Alison Bales (knee), Mistie Bass (thumb), Lindsey Harding (broken finger), Wynter Whitley (ankle) and Caitlin Howe (knee) all missed time in practice.
Junior Wynter Whitley saw her first practice time of the year on Dec. 17, after missing the first seven games recovering from ankle surgery in July. She was able to practice for 15 minutes on Wednesday and her time will increase each day as she improves.
Impressive Shooting...
Through seven games this season, Duke is shooting 52.8 percent from the field, but the most impressive number is eight of the 11 players who have played are shooting over 50.0 percent from the field. The Blue Devils boast four players who are shooting above 60.0 percent (Mistie Bass -69.4, Brittany Hunter -65.2, Lindsey Harding -61.3 and Alison Bales -62.5) and four players hitting above 50.0 percent (Alana Beard -51.1, Iciss Tillis -50.0, Monique Currie -55.9 and Kalita Marsh -50.0).
In The NCAA Stats...
Duke senior Iciss Tillis and senior Alana Beard each rank in the second edition of the NCAA statistics released on Tuesday. Tillis currently leads the nation with a 100.0 free throw percentage as the Tulsa, Okla., product has made 20 of 20 on the season. Beard is tied for 25th in steals with 3.3 a game and is 27th in assists (5.9).
As a team, the Blue Devils rank in the top-10 of the following categories- scoring offense (2nd, 91.6), field goal percentage (3rd, 52.8), rebounding margin (1st, 16.1), steals (2nd, 15.4), assists (2nd, 23.4) and scoring margin (1st, 38.0).
Dishing The Rock...
Through seven games, Duke owns four players who are dishing out 4.0 or more assists a game- Alana Beard (5.9), Monique Currie (4.0), Lindsey Harding (4.0) and Jessica Foley (4.0). Senior Vicki Krapohl is also giving out 2.7 assists a game. The four players averaging greater than 4.0 a game all rank in the top seven in the ACC.
