CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -Broken records, upsets, and final seconds that seem to last forever: These are what glue us to our television sets nervously munching on chips and dip and clamoring at referees in the television across the room. Thursday night's game against Virginia was one of those contests that makes fans go crazy in jubilation, only to break them back down to tears - and back again - all in an eighth of a second.
Alana Beard made the first and last baskets of the game and just about all the one's in between. Her record breaking performance with a school-high 41 points proved what makes or breaks a team: Despite the vulnerability of Duke's offense and the team's exploitable weaknesses, its game is still unbeatable.
As head coach Gail Goestenkors commented earlier this week, Virginia is a "dangerous" team because of their indisputable amount of raw talent. What had deterred them up until Thursday night was their inability to come together as a team. Perhaps with the lack of pressure in facing one of the most outstanding basketball teams in the country, Virginia was able to realize their potential by playing relaxed, team-oriented basketball.
Virginia's head coach, Debbie Ryan, described them as "a bunch of scrappy players with absolutely nothing to lose." As such, they roared into the first half doubling the number of field goals of the unsuspecting and, perhaps overly confident Blue Devils.
"We just about beat the number one team in the nation tonight and we can use that for the rest of the season," high scorer Anna Crosswhite said.
So with ample talent on both sides, how were the Blue Devils fortunate enough to end up with everything literally on the line in the hands of the nation's best player, Alana Beard? While Virginia showed its strength to compete, it didn't show its ability to dominate. The Cavaliers never had much breathing room as their largest lead was just 11 during the first half. Duke cut that difference to three points during the final four minutes of play, mostly because of a 27-point barrage from Beard in the second half. Virginia had shown its potential.
Alana Beard showed dominance.
The Cavaliers were able to capitalize on every Duke flaw.
When the Devil's pulled their defense to the top of the key, Virginia pitched inside to low-cutting guards like Safiya Grant-Fairley who finished with 12 points.
But while the Cavaliers adjusted to Duke's defensive strategy as a team, Beard reamed the Cavaliers. In a one-on-four drive, Beard cut to the basket, dodging defensive players as if they were practice cones. Where her team could not penetrate, Beard did, making high-percentage power lay-ups in the final minutes of the game when her teammates needed her playmaking ability the most.
At no point were the Blue Devils definitely going to win, which brings us sports fans back to the edge of our seats.
But last night Duke showed that all it takes is one special player, and the Cavaliers knew it.
"She's in a league by herself," Ryan said. "She wins games for you in the end."
Upon hearing the news that she had broken the school's seven-year-old scoring record by four points, Beard's sheepish smile slowly faded back into an indifferent stare of a gracious competitor.
"I knew I needed to take over at a certain point," she said. "If I make something happen my team will step up. But if my teammates don't play well, it's not a good game."
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