There will be a new No. 1 with the next AP poll. And it most likely will be current No. 3 Duke, who demolished No. 1 Maryland on Saturday, 81-62, to end the reigning NCAA champ Terps’ 24-game win streak.
This much-hyped matchup had the makings to unseat Tennessee-UConn as the marquee rivalry in women’s basketball. The ACC powers – one a longtime staple, the other a newcomer to the bigtime – created the best NCAA final in history. It was an overtime thriller that saw Maryland, without a senior on the squad, overcome a 13-point deficit to win, 78-75. It was looking like déjà vu when Maryland, down since the midpoint of the first half, came out firing in the second. But the Terps couldn’t overcome the one-two punch of Duke seniors Lindsey Harding and Alison Bales.
Point guard Harding had fouled out in the title game and was on the bench through the OT. And the 6-7 Bales had been the defender on 5-7 ice queen Kristi Toliver when the freshman made the three-pointer that forced overtime. Harding and Bales played Saturday like they had something to prove. Harding finished with a career-high 28 points. The 5-8 speedster was everywhere, leading the fastbreak, even grabbing eight rebounds. Bales was a monster in the center, with 18 points, 12 rebounds and seven blocks. She leads the nation in blocks, with 87.
“They came out with the attack mind-set,” Duke coach Gail Goestenkors said after the game.
“[Harding] played like a champion,” Goestenkors said. “She set the tone for us on both ends of the floor.”
And then there was the Duke defense. It’s No. 1 in the nation, but Maryland’s offense is No. 2, averaging 90 points a game. Maryland came in with six players averaging in double figures, leading the nation with a 53.8 scoring percentage and their top scorer, Crystal Langhorne, leading the nation with 76 percent shooting. Duke bedeviled Maryland, which shot only 37.8 percent for the game. Langhorne, though quicker than Bales, was held to 14 points – which led Maryland. Only one other Terp, Christ the King’s Shay Doron, hit double figures, with 11. Bales kept Maryland’s potent posts from going inside, and the Terps were cold from the perimeter, going 3-for-18 from the three-point line. The sharp-shooting Toliver was 0-5 from three and finishing with eight.
Duke turned defense into offense, scoring 28 points in transition to Maryland’s 10.
This was the first real test of the season for still-young Maryland (Doron is the only senior starter), only the second ranked opponent they’ve faced. Duke (18-0) has won all six contests against ranked opponents. With Maryland’s loss, the only other undefeated Division I team is ACC rival No. 2 North Carolina. The Tar Heels (19-0), who also made last year’s Final Four, take on No. 7 Connecticut Monday in North Carolina. The outcome will have no bearing on this week’s Top 25, which comes out the same day, so it’s likely that Duke, which has had the tougher schedule, will vault to No. 1.
Maryland could remain in the top five, and the numbers could shuffle again in a couple of weeks, when Maryland takes on UNC in College Park on Jan. 28. UNC and Duke meet in Chapel Hill on Feb. 8 and again at Duke on the 25th. Maryland and Duke face off again Feb. 18 at the Comcast Center. Like Saturday’s game, at Cameron Indoor Stadium with the Cameron Crazies in full force, all of these games are sold out.
Clearly, the ACC is no joke. In fact, Maryland coach Brenda Frese gave props to her conference rival in her co-authored book’s Chapter 7, “We Should Thank Duke.” It’s been Duke, under Coach G for the past 14 years, that has established itself as the measuring stick in the ACC, and it’s made the conference stronger. Though UNC was the first ACC team to win a national title, in 1994, Duke is the team that’s carried the banner deep into the NCAA tournament since 1999, its first title game.
While this win might be a little sweet revenge for Duke, it’s January, not March or April. No way this win makes up for the loss to Maryland in the title game.
Frese is probably breaking down Saturday’s game tape right now, looking to use the Duke game as a teaching moment for her young team. We’ll see on Feb. 18 – and in the first weekend in April -- what lessons were learned.