Duke 75, FSU 54, FINAL: A great win for Duke. The Blue Devils dominated the stat sheet-- they shot an astounding 58% from deep (Florida State head coach Sue Semrau pointed out that stat with awe during the post-game press conference) and outscored the Seminoles 38 to 14 in the paint. Jasmine Thomas ended the game as the leading scorer for Duke. She had 14 on 6 for 9 shooting, to go with five assists. Carrem Gay also played very well, finishing with 13 points and nine rebounds.
The Blue Devils now set their eyes on Maryland-- a team they have a history with, and don't particularly like. Abby Waner during the press conference said, "I can't think of anything better in my senior year than to play against Maryland for the championship. And I'm not saying that because I'm referring to anything in particular." She also said that she can't say that she likes Maryland by any means. So emotions will run high at 1:00 pm tomorrow at the 2009 ACC Championship.
Duke 69, FSU 49, 3:51: Krystal Thomas hit a rare basket but didn't have long to enjoy it-- she's out of the game with a bloody nose after getting hit hard by a Florida State player. Also, this is off-topic, but they have the t-shirt guns here and one went off by me, and I'm going to call it now-- there will be a t-shirt gun death by the end of the decade. The force of these guns now is nearing that of a bazooka.
Duke 65, FSU 46, 7:33: Duke is playing well again, Jasmine Thomas especially. She hit a 3 early in the series and at 9:47 made a beautiful reverse lay-up to put the Blue Devils up by 19. Waner and Christmas also made open 3's (the percentage from downtown will be very high for Duke tonight). Black showed her defensive prowess, notching two straight blocks. She got the ball on the next series and missed an open layup and came down hard on her elbow. I thought that she was crying at first, but it turned out she was laughing, indicating either A. Chante Black is very tough, or B. She suffered a funny bone injury.
Duke 50, FSU 37, 11:52: McCallie must have had some strong words for her players at the last media time-out. Duke came out hot. A Jasmine Thomas basket was followed by a steal on the next trip. Waner hit a big three from the wing to put the Blue Devils up 48-34 and stop the Florida State run. While the game is by no means locked up, Duke is not looking in as dire shape as it was.
Duke 43, FSU 33, 15:40: This has been a fairly momentous four minutes for the Seminoles. After hitting back to back three-pointers coming out of the locker room, Florida State has given the Blue Devils fits on both the offensive and defensive end. A Bravard foul at 17:13 on Black had Black looking visibly frustrated-- she is having a lot of trouble getting any looks inside. One of the best plays by Duke during the series-- a massive Krystal Thomas block on Mara Freshour at 16:51-- resulted in a Seminole offensive rebound and a Tanae Davis-Cain three. Florida State is back in it, their crowd is loud again, and the Blue Devils look nervous.
Duke 40, FSU 18, HALFTIME: The Florida State team that beat Duke in Tallahassee is not here. The Seminoles finished the first half a paltry 7 for 29 from the floor, and they turned the ball over 10 times. They have really not played like themselves.
This takes nothing away from the play of the Blue Devils, though. Time and time again they have capitalized on Florida State mishaps, and have 11 points off turnovers, to the Seminoles' 0. Scoring has been fairly balanced. Black leads all scorers with nine and has six rebounds. Gay has eight points and hasn't even missed a shot yet. Christmas has seven points off the bench to go with three rebounds.
Duke will have a very hard time messing up this 22 point lead. I wouldn't be surprised if many of them are subconsciously looking forward to a battle with Maryland tomorrow afternoon.
Duke 34, FSU 16, 3:00: Surely no one could have predicted that Duke would be up by 18 right now. But the Blue Devils are playing very well-- Jasmine Thomas is proving that she is arguably the fastest player on the court (her sprint through the defense for the layup at 4:34 is evidence of that), and the frontcourt play could not be better (they're winning the rebounding battle 18 to 15). Of course it doesn't hurt Duke's odds that Florida State is shooting at an atrocious rate. The Seminoles have shot 6 for 26 from the floor. That's 23.1%. For a team that looked excellent last night, they have to be scratching their heads at what has caused this.
Duke 28, FSU 11, 7:44: Tough luck for Duke. Joy Cheek has picked up two fouls that the Duke fans behind have called, to clean up the language, "highly questionable". And if she does find herself in foul trouble, it spells trouble for the Blue Devils-- her rebounding and inside presence, which has been very good in this game, will be missed. On another note, how about that pass by Chante Black. At 8:09, Black found a wide-open Bridgette Mitchell through a maze of defenders with a very quick pass. What can't she do?
Duke 22, FSU 11, 11:35: The Blue Devils are starting to roll here. A lot of it can be attributed to the spark plug off the bench that is Karima Christmas. She has 5 points so far- a sweet 3-pointer from the corner, and a coast to coast lay-up at the 12 minute mark where she went under the basket and managed to throw it basically backwards and in over the Seminole defenders. Chante Black has relatively easy points to start the game. She's been banging down low with the much bigger Cierra Bravard, but is holding her own well.
Duke 10, FSU 7, 15:13: The game has started a bit sloppy. Both teams are turning the ball over-- Carrem Gay just throw the ball eight feet wide of Chante Black, and the Seminoles are lucky to only be three down with the amount of missed opportunities they have so far.
PREGAME: Its ACC tournament time! Duke, coming off a big win against Virginia last night, plays in the semifinal game today against Florida State, a team that beat the Blue Devils handily in Tallahassee over a month ago. That was then, though, and Duke has been playing excellent lately-- Exhibit 1A being the thrilling overtime victory over North Carolina.
Speaking of the Tar Heels...they just got stomped by Maryland in the other semifinal game. Marissa Coleman and Kristi Toliver combined for 54 points in the 95-84 win. If the Blue Devils win this afternoon, they will have their hands full with the Terrapins tomorrow.
There are still an awfully lot of North Carolina fans here. I wondered who they would be pulling for in the game, but I just saw a group doing the Tomahawk chop, so I think I have a pretty solid answer.
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