Women's Basketball Tops Quinnipiac; Black Nearly Nets Triple-Double

Sunday, December 28

Durham, N.C.

2:00 p.m.

Duke University

Quinnipiac

Women's Basketball Tops Quinnipiac; Black Nearly Nets Triple-Double

12/28/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

By: Associated Press

DURHAM, N.C. ? Chante Black has made a habit of filling up the stat sheet during her career.

She delivered an appropriate performance en route to a milestone. Black scored 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to help No. 6 Duke defeat Quinnipiac 78-50 on Sunday.

Black, who became the sixth player in ACC history with 1,000 points, 800 rebounds and 200 blocked shots in a career, added three blocked shots and a career-high eight steals for the Blue Devils (10-1).

"I think my teammates, especially the guards, applied great pressure," Black said. "Coach always talks about rotation and positioning, and I just tried to focus in on that. Because of their pressure, they were forcing the other team to make bad decisions, and I was there to pick up those loose balls."

Joy Cheek scored 15 points for Duke, which led 49-21 at halftime en route to its 31st consecutive home win in December. Bridgette Mitchell added 14 points for the Blue Devils, who forced 33 turnovers and came up with a season-high 25 steals.

"It was a very aggressive, intense game coming back from the break, so I'm very happy to see that," said Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie, whose team had not played a game since it defeated Siena 86-41 on Dec. 20. "We had some excellent practices, and I thought they carried over."

The Blue Devils trailed just once, falling behind 5-4 with 18:25 remaining in the first half. They answered with a 14-2 run to take control of the game.

Duke forced 21 turnovers in the first half, 16 of which resulted in steals, and closed with a 19-3 run in the final 5 minutes of the period. The Blue Devils, who held the Bobcats to one field goal in the final 7:30 before halftime, owned a 22-2 edge in points off turnovers during the first half.

Twice during the first half, the Bobcats called a timeout because they couldn't inbound the ball against Duke's full-court pressure.

"I thought to start the game, the pressure was solid," Quinnipiac coach Tricia Fabbri said. "It forced us into turnovers that are uncharacteristic of our team."

On the rare occasions when Quinnipiac penetrated Duke's defense, the Blue Devils were there to challenge shots. Duke finished with a season-high 11 blocked shots, including three by Krystal Thomas in a 66-second span midway through the first half.

Mandy Pennewell scored 17 points to lead the Bobcats (8-3), who cut Duke's lead to 19 points on three occasions in the second half.

Erin Kerner, who entered the game averaging a team-high 18.8 points for Quinnipiac, finished with seven turnovers and no points on 0-for-7 shooting. Starting guard Brianna Rooney played just 7 minutes because of the flu.

The Bobcats, who shot 30.9 percent from the field, had little chance to sneak up on the Blue Devils. Duke's lone loss this season came Nov. 21 at the hands of Hartford, a team Quinnipiac defeated two weeks later.

"It was in the back of our minds, definitely," Black said. "I was aware that Quinnipiac did beat Hartford, and I definitely wanted to win this game. It was a focus thing."