"She's back!" Alana Beard shouted.
After Iciss Tillis knocked down her first free throw, her sixth point in Duke's Thursday night matchup against Maryland, Beard could not have been happier. Tillis broke out of her recent shooting slump with a 21-point performance in the Blue Devils' 78-48 victory against the visiting Terrapins.
Monique Currie added 12 points and Lindsey Harding chipped in 10 points and 5 assists for the Blue Devils (15-1, 6-0 in the ACC). Duke dominated inside, outrebounding Maryland (12-6, 4-3) 46-30, with big contributions from Tillis (eight rebounds) and Alison Bales, Mistie Bass and Currie seven each.
Further showing Duke's interior presence, the Blue Devils scored 32 points in the paint to the Terps' six. The home team also converted 21 offensive rebounds into 26 second-chance points.
"One of our points of emphasis is to always overpower the other team's posts," Bass said. "We really take pride in our offensive and defensive post play."
The game was close early, with the lead changing hands seven times in the first 10 minutes. Maryland took a 19-18 lead into the second television timeout, which came shortly after Terrapin Aurelie Noirez completed a backdoor lay-up.
Duke promptly responded with a 17-7 run. Following a Kalika France jumper and Delvona Oliver free throw with 2:28 left in the first half, the Blue Devils exerted their dominance in another long run spanning the intermission. They scored 16 unanswered points, highlighted by seven points from Tillis. Maryland fell behind by 23 and did not score again until a Chrissy Fisher trey with 16:44 left in the second half.
The only suspenseful moment in the second half had nothing to do with the game. As a precautionary move, coach Gail Goestenkors pulled star Alana Beard out with an apparent injury midway through the second half.
"She strained her groin in practice yesterday or the day before," Goestenkors said. "We just wanted to give her as much rest as possible. We didn't want to have her strain it anymore than she had already."
With Beard hampered by her injury, Tillis' outburst was needed. She cited some advice from coach Goestenkors as one of the reasons she was able to mentally break out of her shooting slump.
"I just didn't think during the game," Tillis said. "I just went out there and played."
Beard felt that the Blue Devils need solid performances from Tillis.
"I totally believe that we can't win a national championship without Iciss and I kept giving her encouraging words and letting her know that I was there for her," she said.
With five minutes left in the game, Goestenkors pulled all of her starters. Reserve Caitlin Howe took advantage her seven minutes of playing time, hitting a jumper with four minutes left. Howe has been sidelined for much of her Duke career after ACL surgeries.
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