"Lucky Devils," some of the more historically minded Duke fans in Cameron chanted as the Blue Devils dominated North Carolina late in the second half of a 97-63 romp.
Tar Heel head coach Sylvia Hatchell, looking resplendent as always in a Carolina Blue suit, was the target of the chant. After the first Duke-UNC game of they year, which Duke won 78-67 in overtime, she had said, "They are having all of their luck early in the season. Pretty soon it is going to run out."
Yesterday the Tar Heels were lucky to hold Duke under the century mark.
In nearly every facet of the game Duke improved on its January performance. Although Hatchell was quick to blame her own team for the disastrous defeat, Duke's massive progress was apparent.
"I think we are a much better team than we were then," head coach Gail Goestenkors said. "Our defense has improved immensely. Having Lindsey Harding in the starting lineup has been really great for us. I think she does a great job setting the tone early with her defense, and that helps create some easy opportunities for us offensively."
The turnovers Duke forced more often than not turned into points. The Blue Devils converted 20 turnovers into 27 points, and scored 16 on fast breaks. UNC countered with just seven points off turnovers and two
"Over there, we didn't force them to turn the ball over, so we couldn't really create any transition baskets for us," junior All-American Alana Beard said. "I think that was definitely the difference tonight. We stepped in the passing lanes. We overplayed them. We got easy buckets and we got a lot of tips. We were looking for each other long. It really created a lot of offense for us."
Junior point guard Vicki Krapohl had two of the more dramatic steals a few minutes apart in the second half. Both times, she stepped in front of outlet passes after Duke misses when UNC was not expecting pressure. She converted the first steal immediately into a layup and she passed the second one away before getting it back for a three-pointer.
Beard was ecstatic about Krapohl's contribution and Harding's, which included two blocks and smothering defense on Coretta Brown, UNC's leading scorer.
"Lindsey is more of a Rottweiler; Vicki is more of a Chihuahua," Beard said. "Vicki's the little one. She's the really feisty one. Then, Lindsey is the huge feisty one. It's nice to have two of them. I bet they give other point guards hell. I can't even think about it, I would hate to go against them."
Duke's success in transition helped the Blue Devils find the open shots they needed - and they knocked down 53.8 percent of them. In the original game, while Duke was largely mired in a stagnant half-court set, its shooting percentage was under 40 percent.
The Blue Devils were also dominant rebounding, which marked a departure from the original game's 54-54 tie on the boards. Part of Duke's 41-32 rebounding advantage likely derived from the absence of Crystal Baptist, who had snatched 11 rebounds in round one, but it also reflected a renewed focus on the fundamentals of attacking the boards.
"We've been practicing on rebounding and boxing out for the past two days," junior Iciss Tillis said. "Everything is an offensive rebounding drill or a defensive rebounding drill."
Hatchell was quick to spin the game as a Tar Heel collapse and not a Blue Devil improvement, probably with her eye on the likelihood of a rematch next month in the ACC Tournament.
"It's pretty simple," she said. "We didn't compete. We didn't come to play. I'm sorry that we wasted your time, and we'll try to do better next time."
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