Duke 89, Maryland 92, FINAL: And that's the ballgame. As balloons and around 450 pounds of confetti fall on my head, the Maryland Terrapins celebrate their ninth ACC Championship. The players are standing around the makeshift stage for the trophy ceremony.
In the end, Maryland simply outplayed Duke in the extra period. Several turnovers and bad shots by the Blue Devils killed them, and the Terrapins capitalized on their mistakes. I'll be back after the game (and after I clean off this freaking confetti) for post-game quotes and stats to put the loss in perspective. It will certainly be a somber press conference for McCallie and crew, but they shouldn't be too disheartened. The NCAA tournament is a week away.
Duke 89, Maryland 90, :20.9: A pretty incredible sequence of events-- Karima Christmas stole the ball, and Duke had a chance to tie the game. Then Black had an inexcusable turnover, and Demauria Liles brought the ball up the court and missed a wide open lay-up. The Blue Devils' transition offense allowed Waner to get an easy shot of her own, to cut the lead to one.
Duke 87, Maryland 90, :52: I'm not totally sure what happened, because the press row blocked my view, but in a scramble to get the ball, Gay fell awkwardly on her foot and was helped to the bench where she's being looked at right now. Gay has 19 points so this is definitely a blow to the Blue Devils.
Duke 87, Maryland 90, 1:05: A nice cut to the basket by Toliver resulted in an easy wide-open lay-up. Maryland's up 3 and has the ball.
Duke 87, Maryland 88, 1:21: This overtime hasn't let anyone down. So far Karima Christmas, of all people, has taken over the offense, scoring all six of Duke's points-- two lay-ups in traffic and a couple of free throws. Maryland is in the lead though, thanks to the player that has 28 points and has dominated any chance she can get-- Marrisa Coleman-- who hit a 3 at 2:50 to put the Terrapins up 88-87.
Duke 81, Maryland 81, START OF OVERTIME: Bedlam in the Greensboro Coliseum. After a missed 3 by Anjale Barrett and a rebound by Gay, Thomas drove down the court with around nine seconds on the clock. She drove hard down the left side and threw up a desperation lay-up that was basically a prayer. Black jumped in the air and tipped in the missed shot with one hand, falling away from the basket. The basket forced overtime, where the Blue Devils certainly have the momentum. The Terrapins look stunned.
This is the first overtime game in an ACC final since 1993, I'm being told, when North Carolina and Virginia played to triple overtime.
Duke 78, Maryland 81, :40.8: Two weeks ago sophomore Jasmine Thomas single-handedly beat North Carolina in an overtime thriller. She's trying to do it again this afternoon. After driving and hitting a jumper to cut the lead to five, Thomas is fouled and makes one of two free throws to cut it to three.
Duke 75, Maryland 81, 2:07: Coleman just showed how she has been the best player in the ACC Tournament. She executed a spin move, missed the shot, but stayed with it and got the offensive rebound over the taller defenders. She made the putback. On the next possession she stole the ball from Thomas but missed the 3 in transition.
Duke 72, Maryland 77, 2:47: I know you missed me at the last TV timeout. I was filling out my all tournament team-- I've got Coleman as MVP regardless of the outcome of the game.
Both teams are in the double bonus, so the game may come down to who can hit their free-throws, which is not good for Duke-- Maryland was perfect from the line in the first half and is not that much worse in this one.
Duke 68, Maryland 72, 4:57: Duke should thank its lucky stars to have Carrem Gay on its team right now. Down 10, Gay hit an open jumper to cut the lead to 8. At 5:08, she hit another jumper at the top of the key to cut the lead to six, then on the ensuing Maryland possession stole the ball on the press and hit an open Thomas for a lay-up to cut the lead to four.
Duke 61, Maryland 65, 7:33: I take it they took the pep talk well. Two straight baskets by Jasmine Thomas and Gay, as well as two free throws from Black put the Blue Devils back in striking distance. Meanwhile, the game is getting very vocal-- Coleman continues to yell at her teammates to try and get them excited and there has been a ton of booing by the Terrapin fans about no-calls Duke is allegedly getting.
A couple of random observations: 1. I think the Maryland mascot cost about $15 (its terrible), and 2. I just realized the reporter to the right of me is from the Washington Post. I'm going to give her some tips on journalism.
Duke 55, Maryland 65, 9:53: Ladies and gentlemen, we have our first double digit lead of the game. An offensive rebound by Demauria Liles over Chante Black and a pass to Marah Strickland for an open lay-up put the Terrapins up by 10--the largest lead anyone has had in the game today. Marissa Coleman slammed her feet down and bumped her chest at the Maryland fans; needless to say, they were fired up.
Duke called a timeout to regroup. The Blue Devils frazzled and overwhelmed, a far cry from the confidence they showed in the beginning of the game. Let's see how they take the pep talk McCallie is giving them right now.
Duke 48, Maryland 49, 14:38: The first series of the second half can be said to have been dominated by plays from Waner. At 16:01, Abby got the ball and hit a 3 from the corner to take the lead for Duke for the first time since 7:57 in the first half. Then, when Maryland regained the lead on a 3 from Marah Strickland, Waner stole the ball, drove for what seemed to be a wide-open lay-up, but was blocked from behind, to the delight of the Maryland crowd.
Duke 36, Maryland 40, HALFTIME: The Maryland run came to an end based entirely on the play of Bridgette Mitchell. The 6 foot junior absolutely caught fire and scored eight straight points to put the Blue Devils up 34-32. Alas, Duke could not go into the locker room with the lead. Rodgers hit a lay-up with 44 seconds left, was fouled hard, and made the free throw.
The Blue Devils should not feel too bad being behind right now. Maryland shot the daylights out of the ball in the first half-- over 48% to Duke's 41%. The Terrapins won't stay that hot.
For the Blue Devils to win this game, they must exploit their advantage down low--they have a better frontcourt than the Terrapins, and they're not going to beat them by trying to stop Coleman and Toliver because, well, they can't. They can however own the inside with Black back in the game, which will open up opportunities outside for Waner and Thomas.
For those watching at home, what did you think of this Damien Horne guy? I was looking forward to making fun of any song called 'She Can Play!' but I gotta say, I kinda dug it. Pretty catchy.
Duke 25, Maryland 29, 3:54: Maryland is currently on a 11-2 run, based in large part on the inspired play of Toliver. Duke doesn't really have an answer for the speed demon, who kickstarted the Maryland offense at 7:54 with a stepback three in the face of two Blue Devil defenders. She's also had a great eye for her open teammates, twice finding a wide open Kim Rodgers underneath the basket for easy lay-ups.
Duke 23, Maryland 21, 7:37: Maryland and Duke brought their 'A' game this afternoon. Both teams are continuing to trade buckets--two straight jumpers from Toliver and Coleman were followed by two straight jumpers from Keturah Jackson and Abby Waner. Its an old-fashioned dog fight.
Chante Black is still missing from the game, this would be for about ten minutes now. The foul trouble she's in doesn't seem to be hurting Duke though-- Gay, Christmas, and Cheek are rotating defensively on the much larger Kizer and have held her to only two points so far.
Duke 17, Maryland 14, 11:20: This is turning out to be a very good game. The fans are loud (even if the majority are pulling for Maryland) and the refs are letting the players go at each other-- its a very physical game (Exhibit A: Coleman's dubious pushoff and score at 12:50). Carrem Gay just finished the series with a nice drive and lay-up. She has seven of Duke's 17. Toliver has been quiet so far, scoring just two points, but blocked the much taller Keturah Jackson at 12:11, causing the Terrapin fans to absolutely erupt behind me.
I was just given a ballot telling me to vote for an All-Tournament team. They never should have given me this power. Who should I vote for to screw up this process? I'm thinking Kathleen Scheer first team.
Duke 6, Maryland 6, 15:53: Its getting a little dicey in the Coliseum. Four total fouls so far in the game, not including one no call that had coach McCallie berating a referee. Chante Black already has two fouls called on her, which the Blue Devils obviously don't want.
Two good offensive rebounds and put backs by Karima Christmas and Carrem Gay. Also a very nice pass from Abby Waner to find a cutting Jasmine Thomas open down low.
PREGAME: Live from Greensboro North Carolina, its the ACC Tournament Championship Game! The Blue Devils face Maryland, the No. 1 seeded team in the tournament. The two teams split the series this year, with Duke taking the first game at home 68-65, and the Terrapins winning the second matchup in College Park 77-59.
Maryland, of course, sports the ACC Player of the Year in Kristi Toliver, who is a Duke killer, to say the least. She hit the shot four years ago in the national championship game that sent it to overtime where the Terrapins would win, and earlier this year she dropped 34 points in their win over the Blue Devils. Marissa Coleman will also be a player to watch on this stacked Maryland team-- she scored 29 over North Carolina yesterday and is playing some of her best basketball of the season.
Duke is coming off two convincing wins-- a 76-53 thrashing of Virginia Friday night and a 75-57 blowout of Florida State Saturday afternoon. Carrem Gay went a perfect 6-6 against the Seminoles for 13 points and nine rebounds. And Abby Waner has seen a shooting resurgence, possibly a result of the 3-pointer at the end of the North Carolina game. She is averaging 12.5 points a game in the tournament and is shooting it at a very efficient rate-- .600.
The national anthem was just sung by a Boston College student who supposedly an American Idol finalist. I don't know who she is, but it was way over-sung, so Simon must love her.
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