COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Even the snow and ice outside the Comcast Center could not keep Lindsey Harding from torching the Terrapins yet again.
Harding scored a career-high 29 points as she led No. 1 Duke (28-0, 13-0 in the ACC) to a commanding 69-57 win over No. 6 Maryland (25-4, 9-4), clinching the team's eighth ACC regular-season title.
Harding eclipsed her previous career high of 28, set in the Blue Devils' home win over the Terps on Jan. 13.
"If Lindsey Harding isn't player of the year, I'd like to know who is," Maryland head coach Brenda Frese said. "We actually had a game plan-which it may not have seemed like-in terms of being able to contain her, and she just did a tremendous job and is obviously the reason why they're undefeated."
Harding started strong from the opening tip, making her first six shots and scoring 14 of Duke's first 17 points over the game's first seven minutes on a variety jumpers from both inside and outside the arc. In fact, Harding accounted for all of Duke's points until Wanisha Smith hit a three-pointer at the 13:43 mark.
"You just get the confidence," Harding said of her hot start. "There are some shots I took, especially in the first half, that I probably wouldn't have normally took, but I was in rhythm, I was making them and I had the confidence to take those shots."
Despite their point guard's torrid start, the rest of the Blue Devils struggled to find the basket during the early parts of the first half, allowing the lead to switch hands until a Wanisha Smith layup with 5:20 left in the period gave the Blue Devils a lead they would never relinquish.
Duke scored on its next three shots to widen the gap to eight, and the Blue Devils entered the locker room with a six-point cushion.
Duke continued to tack onto its lead in the second half, going on a 10-5 run over the first four minutes of the period.
The scoring spurt was punctuated by yet another incredible play by Harding, as she nailed a fadeaway baseline jumper despite being knocked to the ground by Maryland's Ashleigh Newman.
Harding slapped the floor in excitement as her shot went in, then stepped to the line and sunk a free throw to complete the three-point play.
That play gave the Blue Devils their first double-digit lead of the game and effectively marked the beginning of the end for the Terps, who would not be able to narrow the deficit beyond seven points for the remainder of the game.
The second half saw an inspired defensive performance from the Blue Devils, as they held the ACC's three-point percentage leader Kristi Toliver to 1-for-6 three-point shooting in the second half and 2-for-10 from behind the arc for the game. Without their shots falling and Bales clogging up the interior, Maryland faced an uphill fight to get back into the game.
"I thought that for whatever reason, their matchup zone gave us a lot of problems," Frese said. "We did a lot of standing around, and that is a credit to Duke's defense."
Faced with a tough test against a top team on the road, Duke did what it has done all year and lived up to their billing as the top team in the nation.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.