Youth and experience combined to help then-No. 2 Duke open its ACC schedule with a win over No. 25 Virginia Tech Sunday.
Senior Wynter Whitley and freshman Wanisha Smith combined for Duke"s last eight points of the first half as the Blue Devils (15-1, 1-0 in the ACC) went on a 19-2 run that spanned halftime and blew open a previously close game. Duke went on to defeat the Hokies 88-67 on its way to the No. 1 ranking.
The defining play came when Whitley dove on the floor and tipped away a loose ball from a Hokie defender. Whitley then passed from her back to Smith, who drove down the lane and hit a layup over Virginia Tech (11-3, 1-1) center Erin Gibson.
'I thought she did a great job defensively. She was on the ground a lot and just making hustle plays,' head coach Gail Goestenkors said of Whitley. 'I thought we came out and played really hard. There were a lot of hustle plays by both teams.'
The Blue Devils began the game patient on offense and focused on attacking the post, as nine of the team"s first 10 shots came from inside. Duke"s post presence helped it overcome a hot start by Hokie junior guard Carrie Mason, who scored 10 points in the first 10 minutes of the game, and build a seven-point lead.
A five-minute field goal drought for the Blue Devils allowed the Hokies to cut the advantage to two before junior Mistie Williams scored inside to start Duke"s run, which coincided with Duke"s switch to a zone defense.
'I think our zone bothered them a little bit. They got some open looks out of the zone, but they didn"t hit them,' Goestenkors said. 'They looked like they were more comfortable against our man-to-man, but when we went to the zone, I thought that caused them some problems.'
Virginia Tech never cut the deficit to less than 12 after Duke"s run, partly because of the Blue Devils" great shooting. The team shot 60 percent in the second half and 55 percent for the game. This was the fourth contest in a row that the Blue Devils have shot more than 50 percent for the game, and one reason for the high percentages was that so many of the Blue Devil"s shots were in the lane, as Duke outscored the Hokies 48-24 in the paint. Four Blue Devils scored in double figures.
'I think they just make you pay when you make mistakes and we made mistakes and when we did, they knocked down their shots,' Virginia Tech head coach Beth Dunkenberger said.
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