CHARLOTTE - Clemson's streak of three straight appearances in the ACC tournament finals and Duke's streak of two straight second-round exits may have foretold it. Clemson's slew of serendipitous plays throughout the game may have proved it. And Clemson coach Jim Davis outright said it after the game.
Clemson may have been destiny's darling yesterday afternoon.
But even with all signs seemingly pointing to a Clemson upset of top-seeded Duke in the semifinals of the ACC tournament, Duke almost stole destiny and the win from the grasp of the Tigers down the stretch-but the Blue Devils ended up giving it right back.
Two Nicole Erickson free throws with 3:18 left in the contest brought the Blue Devils within three. Then, in the Tigers' ensuing seven possessions, the Blue Devils came away with five steals. Off those five steals, all Duke could muster was two turnovers and two missed shots sandwiched around one Lauren Rice free throw.
"[Inability to convert off turnovers] was huge," coach Gail Goestenkors said. "You've got to take care of the ball on offense. I was very proud of our defense down the stretch. I thought we did an excellent job and created opportunities, but we didn't take advantage of the opportunities."
On Clemson's possession after Erickson's free throws, Rice intercepted Natasha Anderson's entry pass into the post, giving the Blue Devils a chance to cut further into the lead. But Peppi Browne fumbled the ball out of bounds while posting up on the right baseline.
A minute later, Browne atoned for her mistake by picking Amy Geren's pocket, but the created opportunity only led to further frustration as Erickson missed a tough layup off of a penetration.
Redemption came for Erickson, who scored 15 points in the second half after laying a goose egg in the first, one possession later as she drilled a three from the right wing to cut the lead to three. And when Rice picked off Erin Batth's outlet pass on Clemson's next possession, the Blue Devils appeared to be on the verge of a dramatic, last-minute comeback-only to be shackled by their own mistakes again.
Erickson broke free off a screen and appeared to have enough space for a potential game-tying three, but she bobbled the pass from Hilary Howard and looked on as Clemson guard Itoro Umoh picked up the loose ball.
"I was dropping help-side, then I saw it, so I ran after the ball, and I got it," Umoh said.
The Blue Devils, however, just kept on creating chances-and failed to capitalize on them. Erickson stole an inbound pass, but the best Duke could manage on the following possession was a Georgia Schweitzer jumper from the top of the key that was partially blocked.
With the Blue Devils seemingly unable to do right on offense, Rice stepped up and refused to let the game slip away. With 18 seconds left and her team down five, Rice found herself open under the basket and made the short jumper to cut the lead to three.
Rice then stole the Clemson inbounds pass and drew a foul inside-but she wasn't done yet. After hitting the first free throw, she missed the second but grabbed her own rebound. Her follow-up attempt with a crowd of Clemson defenders holding on to her, however, was blocked by Batth.
The Blue Devils had one final chance after Batth missed one of two free throws, keeping Duke within three points with 11.3 seconds remaining. Rice, who had almost single-handedly brought Duke back in the game's final minutes, threw away her team's final shot at a comeback when her lazy inbounds pass to Howard was picked off by Umoh.
"When you are trying to get the ball, you don't look behind you to see if someone's guarding you," Umoh said. "I just caught Hilary Howard off guard. And I was reading [Rice]'s eyes too. If she didn't throw a bounce pass, I couldn't have gotten it. But she threw it, I baited Hilary to go to it a little bit and then I ran in front of her and caught her off guard."
While the Tigers may have caught the Blue Devils off-guard by having four players hitting three-pointers in the contest that had combined for just 21 all season, Duke still had more than its share of chances to win late. But its offensive execution down the stretch was simply unsatisfactory for a team with aspirations for a Final Four berth and a possible NCAA Championship.
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