CLEMSON, S.C. - With a minute and 38 seconds left in Sunday's contest against the Clemson Tigers, women's basketball forward Tye Hall stepped to the free throw line. A quick glance at the scoreboard showed her team down 68-61-no problem.
Though Duke eventually dropped the 3-point decision to Clemson, it continued a trend it began seven games ago in its first meeting with the Tigers: a refusal to buckle when trailing late in ballgames, and a penchant for making plays that fuel many a comeback.
"I was happy with the last five minutes when we made our comeback," Duke coach Gail Goestenkors said. "[We] showed a lot of heart and a lot of hustle, but the other thirty-five [minutes], that was the problem."
Clemson laid claim to an eight-point lead entering the five minute mark, yet the five Duke players on the court never lost their confidence or composure. An unrattled Hilary Howard knocked down an open three, and the always-clutch Kira Orr slashed by her defender for an easy lay-in to cut the lead to three.
Even when Clemson regained a seven-point lead with two minutes remaining, the Blue Devils did not look worried. After Hall calmly sank her two free throws, Peppi Browne stripped the ball from Clemson guard Itoro Umoh on the ensuing inbounds pass and converted the layup.
Howard then stole a Clemson pass, and whipped the ball ahead to Orr, who was fouled on her drive across the lane. Converting both free throws, Orr helped Duke to creep within one with 53.6 seconds left and it looked like Duke might have notched another comeback win under its belt.
One thing that Duke had left unaccounted for, though, was Umoh. The Tigers' sensational sophomore torched Duke for 29 points, most of which came on explosive penetrations to the basket. Just as it appeared Duke had put the clamps on Umoh defensively down the stretch, Umoh would burn Duke again.
To no one's surprise, Umoh controlled the ball as Clemson inbounded with the game tied and 40 seconds left on the clock. Since Umoh had effectively driven on every Blue Devil who had guarded her previously, Orr came over to help Naz Medhanie on the double team. Alertly, Umoh flipped a pass to Natasha Anderson, who Orr had been guarding, who hit a five-foot baseline jumper to give Clemson a two point lead with 16.4 seconds remaining.
"We've gotten into a bad habit of letting teams get a lead and coming back," Goestenkors said. "I told my team that we can't get away with that against great teams-they're not going to let you come back every game, and that's what happened to us."
Her words proved prophetic as for the first time in weeks, her team failed to execute with the game on the line. Having a chance to tie with 7.2 seconds remaining, Naz Medhanie's inbound pass intended for Howard found the scorer's table.
"[Howard] didn't go where she should've and Naz shouldn't have thrown the ball because [Howard] wasn't there," Goestenkors said. "We didn't do what we needed to do to execute the play."
Still, Duke had an opportunity to send the game into overtime after Clemson's Calesha Corner missed the second of her two free throws. For the second game in a row, Orr had the opportunity to add a chapter to her book of last-second heroics, having hit a 25-foot bomb to tie the game at the end of regulation in the last game against N.C. State. Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, Orr's buzzer-beater from the baseline fell just short, as did her team's stretch run.
More importantly though, Sunday gave Duke another chance to test its mettle in clutch situations. To thrive in the Atlantic Coast Conference and NCAA tournaments, a team must know how to play from behind, handle itself under late-game duress and perform in close games.
Through playing the grueling ACC schedule, Duke has received a crash-course in dealing with such situations. In both games against Clemson, the second meeting with Florida State, Maryland and N.C. State, the team had to play from behind. In those meetings, the Blue Devils had learned how to adjust, improvise and execute when the game was hanging in the balance.
All five starters have hit clutch shots late in games to help the team extend its winning streak. Sunday, the team continued to do some of the same things it had done previously to win games down the stretch-convert crucial free throws, apply pressure defense and move the ball to the open shooter.
Though this game failed to turn up roses for Duke, the late-game experience harnessed by the team will reap tremendous benefits as it heads down the season's home stretch.
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