ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - There's Batman and Robin. There's Snoop and Dre. There's Kobe and Shaq. And now after qualifying for their second consecutive Final Four, there's Alana and Iciss.
Duke juniors Alana Beard and Iciss Tillis showed exactly why they constitute the best duo in women's college basketball during the last 3:30 minutes of Duke's 57-51 win over Texas Tech.
Things were not always going great for the Blue Devils. With 5:07 left in the contest, the Lady Raiders had just completed a 10-0 run to take a 48-46 lead. In addition, at this point in the game, Tillis was far from her All-American self, shooting just 2-for-12.
After Duke and Texas Tech traded baskets, the Blue Devils faced a two-point deficit coming out of a timeout. Duke decided to run a play for Beard, with Tillis being the second option. Tillis caught the ball at the top of the key, and looked to pass to Beard. Texas Tech's defensive pressure sagged towards Beard, which gave
"[Duke head coach Gail Goestenkors] ran a play with the first option for Alana in the post," Tillis said. "The second option was for me up top. I saw the three and was like, 'Well I'm having the worst night of me life. What else could go wrong?' So I just shot it. When it left my hands, I knew it was good."
On the following defensive play, Duke broke down and Texas Tech star Plenette Pierson, who finished with 17 points and 17 rebounds, found her self wide open for a layup. Before she could easily place in the two points, Sheana Mosch fouled the 6-foot-2 senior. This proved to be a correct decision, as Pierson only knocked down 1-of-2 attempts, tying the game at 51.
Goestenkors called the next play down the floor for her two superstars. This time Beard, who was dominant throughout the game with 28 points, passed the ball to Tillis in the high-post, and immediately cut to the basket. Tillis quickly directed the ball back to her teammate, and Beard finished the give-and-go with a three-point play.
"Down the stretch most of the plays are called," Goestenkors said. "At that point you want to call specific plays for specific players. Basically we want the ball in Alana's hands or in Iciss' hands. So every call down the stretch went to one of those two players."
After several errant plays by both teams, the score was still 54-51 when Mosch fouled Pierson again with 40.5 seconds left. Pierson missed both opportunities, but after the rebound bounced back and forth between the two teams, Pierson had the ball in her hands once again. After spinning to the hoop, Pierson elevated to try to put her team within one point before Tillis' long arms got a piece of her shot. The deflected ball sailed into the hands of Mosch, whom Texas Tech desperately fouled.
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