Duke 69, Virginia Tech 38, Final: In the end, turnovers proved to be the difference in this game, as the Blue Devils only committed four in the second half, while the Hokies put up 13. The Blue Devils racked up an impressive 28 points off those takeaways and dominated the paint as well, outscoring Tech 36-14 in the land. Duke also found its shooting touch in the second half, shooting 60% from the field, compared to 27.3% for Tech. Virginia Tech's 38 points is a school-record low in ACC play, a testament to Duke's stifling defense. Indeed, the Blue Devils had 19 steals overall and seemed to simply want the ball more than the Hokies. Krystal Thomas led the team with 17 points and six rebounds, while Jasmine Thomas chipped in 14 points and six steals. All in all, a great turnaround effort after the tough loss to UCONN on Monday.
Duke 66, Virginia Tech 35, 1:06 second half: It's also important to note the impressive showing of Krystal Thomas. With 17 points, she is really taking advantage of her size in the key and executing her lay ups well. In addition, her six rebounds demonstrate her ability to crash the boards and get the ball back out to her teammates.
Duke 55, Virginia Tech 28, 6:43 second half: Virginia Tech is looking visibly frustrated as they can find no way to stop the stellar offensive efforts of Thomas and Cheek. Both players have combined for twenty points in the second half. A rarely seen smile on Coach McCallie's face tells me that she is happy with the Blue Devil's play.
Duke 43, Virginia Tech 23, 11:21 second half: A twenty point lead proves that Duke can play a tighter game than the first half would lead us to believe. Jasmine Thomas and Joy Cheek both put up three's for the Blue Devils. Those efforts combined with a desire to do the most with offensive possessions by attacking the boards and getting multiple looks at the basket are allowing Duke to pull away from Virginia Tech. The Hokies have yet to come up with an answer to the Blue Devil's higher level of play.
Duke 34, Virginia Tech 17, 16:56 second half: It looks like Coach Joanne P. McCallie had some choice words to share with the Blue Devils during half time as their shooting has drastically improved. With Jasmine Thomas and Joy Cheek both putting up good numbers offensively, it looks like Duke may be taking a turn for the better in the second half. However, turnover woes continue to plague both teams as the travels are coming strong from both ends of the court.
Caroline Fairchild taking over the blog at the half.
Duke 22, Virginia Tech 15, Halftime: The first half of play can be characterized by a simple word: sloppy. Yet, as bad as Duke played in the opening 20 minutes, the Hokies played even worse. The Blue Devils committed 11 turnovers in the period, but luckily the Hokies posted 13 of their own. Duke shot 25.7% from the field—but Tech shot only 24%. Neither team made a 3-pointer and no player has scored in double figures. The Blue Devils' seven-point lead can be attributed to their 10 points off turnovers and six fastbreak points. Hopefully Duke can find its shooting touch in the second half, but if not, it can take comfort in the fact that its defense seems to be strong enough to keep the Blue Devils in the game. But the Blue Devils need to do a better job of capitalizing on their size down low and putting away easy layups if they want to pull away from Tech in the second half.
Duke 20, Virginia Tech 15, 1:00 first half: Another steal thanks to the press resulted in a wide open layup for Jasmine Thomas, extending the Blue Devils' lead back to five.
Duke 16, Virginia Tech 15, 2:40 first half: The Blue Devils have managed to stay on top in this extremely low scoring affair thanks to offensive rebounds and Virginia Tech's inability to get anything to fall in the paint. A short jumper by Lindsay Biggs, however, has cut the Duke lead to a single point. Both teams have committed a plethora of turnovers and have shot abysmally from the field. Duke started to employ a 2-2-1 fullcourt zone press a few minutes ago, and it just paid dividends as the Hokies have coughed it up on two straight possessions.
Duke 10, Virginia Tech 6, 7:36 first half: Duke had gone almost four minutes without scoring a point until Bridgette Mitchell knocked down two free throws to give the Blue Devils a four-point lead. The Blue Devils should be taking over the game, but turnovers have prevented them from breaking it wide open. Jasmine Thomas lost the ball when she attempted to get by two defenders in the lane, and the other giveaways have come on sloppy passes and simply fumbling the ball.
Duke 8, Virginia Tech 2, 11:57 first half: Missed layups have plagued the Blue Devils on the offensive end, but their defense is making up for the struggles under the basket. The Hokies have been continually rebuffed as they try to get to the rack, and Duke's length on the blocks—provided by 6-foot-3 Krystal Thomas and 6-foot-5 Allison Vernerey—is really bothering Tech, as the Blue Devils continue to rack up blocks, deflections and steals as a result.
Duke 6, Virginia Tech 0, 17:21 first half: The Hokies were forced to call a timeout after the Blue Devils scored the first six points of the game. Jasmine Thomas has four points on a drive to the bucket and a nice baseline jumper. Duke has already blocked three Hokie shots and is playing a tough man-to-man defense that Tech has yet to crack.
Tipoff: Starting for the Blue Devils are Jasmine Thomas, Krystal Thomas, Bridgette Mitchell, Joy Cheek and Keturah Jackson. The Hokies bring out Drye, Biggs, freshman Alyssa Fenyn, Nikki Davis and Brittany Gordon. Gordon and 6-foot-4 is the tallest player on the floor, but Krystal Thomas has proven herself to be a force down low as well as an excellent shot blocker.
Pregame: The No. 6 Blue Devils will look to rebound after their 48-81 drubbing at the hands of No. 1 Connecticut when they take on Virginia Tech tonight in Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Hokies (11-6, 1-2 in the ACC) defeated No. 10 North Carolina 79-64 on January 14 for their only win against a ranked opponent this season. They are led by senior guards Utahya Drye and Lindsay Biggs, who average 11.5 and 11.9 points per game, respectively. Drye is a Durham native so we'll see how she responds playing in her hometown tonight. Duke (15-3, 3-0) is looking to remain undefeated in conference play, and the Blue Devils have won their three ACC games by an average of 15.7 points.
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