Second Half Surge Propels Blue Devils Over Michigan 60-45

Sunday, December 7

Durham, N.C.

2:00 p.m.

Duke University

Michigan

Second Half Surge Propels Blue Devils Over Michigan 60-45

12/7/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

By: Michael Tomko, GoDuke.com

DURHAM, N.C. -- The Duke Blue Devils used a 15-4 run at the start of the second of half to pull away from the Michigan Wolverines Saturday afternoon for a 60-45 non-conference win. Joy Cheek ignited the second half run for Duke knocking down three-pointers on back-to-back possessions.

“I really appreciated the way the team came out in the second half in particular,” head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “[They] really found each other, picked apart the defense and did a really sharp job there. I really liked the balance scoring everyone was active and attacking.”

Chante Black, who led the Blue Devils with 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting, pulling down seven rebounds and blocking six shots, was one of four Blue Devils to score in double figures. Carrem Gay had a season high 12 points on 6-of-11 shooting pulling down a team high nine rebounds.

“I just tried to be a little more active this game and tried to get the defense to make mistakes,” Gay said. “My teammates did a good job of looking for me and seeing that I was open.”

Cheek chipped in with 11 points and seven rebounds and Abby Waner scored 10 knocking down three three-pointers and handing out a team high 6 assists in 34 minutes.

“I thought there was great leadership on the floor at all different points, whether it was Abby leading and having to play a whole lot of minutes out there,” McCallie said. “Carrem did some great things, really led us defensively and I thought Te was rock solid and poised in what she was doing. We had great leadership from all three seniors.”

During the second half run, Duke got baskets from Gay, Waner, and Keturah Jackson to compliment the threes by Cheek.

The Wolverines were able to cut the 15 point deficit to six with 9:41 left in the game thanks to a three ball from Veronica Hicks, but the Blue Devils responded scoring seven straight points.

Krystal Thomas was able to put one in from the left block, Black banged inside drawing fouls on two straight possessions knocking down 3-of-4 from the line and Gay buried a 16-foot jump shot off an inbound play to increase the Duke lead to 52-39.

After Duke jumped out to an early 13-6 lead in the first half, the Wolverines battled back knocking down four threes to take an 18-17 lead. That was the only time Duke would trail as McCallie applied a full court press and a match-up zone to re-generate offense.

“I like to play different defenses and mix it up a little bit,” McCallie said. “Sometimes you switch up your defense just to see if you can get something going on your offense.”

It seemed to work as Duke scored eight points to close the half and enter the locker room leading 25-21.

The Wolverines were led by 16 points by Hicks and 10 from Melinda Queen as Michigan combined to shoot 10-of-24 from behind the arc.

“They shoot a lot of threes,” McCallie said. “What was surprising was who hit them. That was a little surprising.”

Carly Benson, who McCallie expected to make threes, shot poorly connecting on 1-of-6 for the afternoon, while Queen and Hicks teamed up to connect on six threes.

“They got six threes or 18 points off people who don't normally do that,” McCallie said. “We bring the best out in people. We appreciate that. We hope they do too.”

McCallie was pleased by the physical play her Blue Devils displayed as Duke out-rebounded the Wolverines 46-22 and held Michigan to 29.8 percent shooting for the game.

The physical play turned into 26 points in the paint for Duke as well as 14 points off turnovers.

“I thought the defense we played was very solid," McCallie said. "Holding any team to 45 points is terrific no matter what you're playing. Sometimes we are trying to switch up to generate some offensive opportunities for our team.”