TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - It was a night when Duke's stars could have propelled the Blue Devils to the top of the ACC.
Instead, it was a senior from the Seminoles who boosted her team to first place in the league.
The Blue Devils had no answer for Mara Freshour in Thursday's 82-75 loss, and they were left to watch as the Florida State captain scored five points in the final 48 seconds of regulation to force overtime.
"I made the mistake earlier in the year of not taking last-second shots that I need to step up and take," Freshour said. "That needs to be on my shoulders."
And the fact that Freshour finally decided to assume her team's burden spelled doom for Duke, which lost its first conference game of the year.
Following a Joy Cheek 3-point basket that gave the Blue Devils a 66-60 advantage with 58 seconds to go, Freshour finally asserted herself. Catching the ball on the left wing, she drove to the corner and buried a short jumper. After two Duke free throws, Freshour threw a perfect lead pass to set up an easy basket. She capped off her miraculous minute with a 3-pointer from the wing to tie it up at 68.
While Freshour's heroics were spectacular, they were possible only because of a series of poor decisions from Duke.
"This is a classic example of losing because of poise," head coach Joanne P. McCallie said.
Over the last minute, the Blue Devils seemed to lose all awareness of appropriate strategies for different situations. When the Seminoles trailed by three with 23 seconds remaining, Duke allowed Freshour, who is one of the top 3-pointer shooters in the ACC, to set her feet and shoot in perfect rhythm.
On the next possession, in a tie game, Duke had the ball and the shot clock was turned off. Conventional wisdom says hold the ball for the last shot. Instead of calling a timeout, senior forward Chante Black rushed and missed a contested layup with 12 seconds left.
"We just had time and score issues we need to work on," McCallie said. "You hold on to the ball there. Time and score."
After the mistakes mounted, Duke could never recover from a wave of negative momentum.
"We have to be ready for teams to make runs, that's the way basketball games are played, and we need to be ready to counter it," senior Abby Waner said.
And when the overtime period began, it was clear that the Blue Devils had no answer. The missteps continued as Freshour again slipped open and made a three to push the Florida St. advantage to 74-70. Moments later, she added a pair of free throws and Duke's 15-game winning streak was over-along with its reign atop the conference.
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