The Blue Devils had no problem lighting up the scoreboard, but they allowed more points to Division II Glenville State in their first exhibition contest than they did in two tune-up games combined last season.
After a knee injury sidelined her for the back half of the 2012-13 campaign, senior guard Chelsea Gray returned to action, registering 12 points and 14 assists as Duke routed Glenville State 122-77 Wednesday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Even after the blowout win, head coach Joanne P. McCallie said that her team has a lot to improve upon before its Nov. 10 opener at California, especially on the defensive end of the floor.
“Glenville State played outstanding basketball,” McCallie said. “This is a nice opportunity to refocus ourselves, wake up a little bit and understand the value of defense.”
Duke underperformed defensively, giving up 25 offensive rebounds to the much smaller Lady Pioneers and allowing Glenville State to rack up 77 points, even without leading scorer Ginny Mills in the lineup.
“We have to make adjustments during the game,” McCallie said. “Very little communication was going on in the second half on the [defensive] end.”
Although Glenville State got off to a slow start, its offense steadily improved throughout the game, going 7-for-9 from behind the arc in the second half, which softened the blow.
Guard Tiffany Huffman led the Lady Pioneers with 19 points and sparked the offense late in the game, knocking down three second-half 3-point shots.
“We wanted to come out and play hard for 40 minutes,” Glenville State head coach Charles Marshall said. “There is no doubt in my mind that they did that. They came out and did a wonderful job tonight.”
But Duke also made its offensive presence felt inside, with 84 of 122 points coming inside the paint. Center Elizabeth Williams was force a to be reckoned with, as the junior scored 19 points and grabbed 15 rebounds.
Top freshman recruits Kendall McCravey-Cooper and Oderah Chidom saw their first minutes as Blue Devils and immediately bolstered Duke’s inside presence. McCravey-Cooper had seven points and four blocks in just 13 minutes.
“I think we did a good job of running the floor offensively and getting easy layups,” Williams said. “In general we want to have a lot of paint shots, regardless of our opponent. Having that kind of emphasis offensively was good for us.”
The Blue Devils jumped out to a 13-0 lead in the opening minutes of the game and built a 68-35 lead by halftime.
Gray looked to get all of her teammates involved and her presence was immediately felt, as she registered a double-double of 12 points and 11 assists in the first half alone. Gray is ninth all-time in Duke history with 423 career assists.
One of the highlights of the first half was when Gray made a beautiful pass to fellow guard Alexis Jones, showing fans how prolific the backcourt duo can be. Jones finished the game with a team-high 20 points.
When Gray and Jones weren’t feeding the Blue Devil post players, they were kicking the ball outside to sharpshooter Tricia Liston, who shot 3-of-6 from 3-point range and had 15 points.
“We want to play the way we play, which is great offense, great defense and being in attack mode,” McCallie said.
McCallie and her team will go back to practice and the film room tomorrow and learn how they can pick up their play going into the season, one that is colored by national-championship aspirations.
“We didn’t spot up with shooters. We didn’t contest shooters. They got the offensive boards,” McCallie said. “There is a long list of things there.”
The Blue Devils will return to action on Sunday when they take the court to play their final exhibition game against Coker College at 1 p.m.
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