Goestenkors' smarts take Duke to Summitt

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Only six other teams had ever beaten the Lady Vols in Thompson-Boling arena, but a smart game plan and continued focus allowed the Blue Devils to become number seven.

Give a lot of the credit to Duke head coach Gail Goestenkors. Going up against Pat Summitt, the winningest women’s basketball coach of all-time, Goestenkors directed an incredible game, even out-coaching the incomparable Summitt in Duke’s 59-57 victory Thursday.

The team’s intensity lasted a full 40 minutes and never wavered once, and it was like watching the women’s basketball version of Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots. Every player, with the possible exception of Alison Bales, had obvious down moments in the game. Yet the team was never flustered. Monique Currie did not stop driving hard to the basket. Jessica Foley did not stop attempting threes. Mistie Williams kept taking the ball up strong from the low post. And Wanisha Smith continuously tried to be a playmaker.

Without Goestenkors’ strong reinforcement from the sidelines, these players might have deviated from a strategy tailor-made to defeat the smaller, quicker Lady Vols. Instead, Coach G’s team persistently threw the ball down low, particularly during the game’s stretch run, which proved to be the biggest reason why Duke came out on top. The Blue Devils outscored Tennessee by a 36-14 margin in the paint.

“Our post players did an exceptional job, and we need to do a great job in the post,” Goestenkors said.

On the defensive side of the ball, Coach G’s zone-rotation defense significantly impaired Tennessee’s daunting perimeter-shooting ability. Shanna Zolman and Brittany Jackson, the Lady Vols’ dynamic outside shooting tandem, shot a combined 8-for-23 from the field. Jackson, a defensive liability, was so limited on the offensive end that Summitt was forced to bench her for the last 18 minutes of the game. Zolman took the final shot, which was contested by three Blue Devil defenders and had no chance of going in. The possession was a microcosm of Tennessee’s inability to find open shots throughout the game.

While Goestenkors coached with brilliance, Summitt had a subpar game from the sidelines. With Duke’s tallest players each playing 26 minutes or more, Summitt should have given more playing time to 6-foot-3 Sidney Spencer and 6-foot-5 Tye’sha Fluker, who played 22 and 19 minutes, respectively. The Lady Vols were most productive when the team ran its transition offense, which became all too sparse at the end of the contest.

Summitt also made two key mistakes during the final possession. First, she should not have called a timeout with seven seconds to go. The Duke defense was discombobulated as Tennessee pushed the ball down the floor, and calling the timeout allowed the Blue Devils to set up their zone rotation. Second, given that she called timeout, Summitt should have inserted Jackson to take pressure off of Zolman, and Summitt admitted as much after the game.