Sunday, February 25, 2007

Feb. 25--Duke Pulls Past UNC 67-62

Top 5 Scorers:
Alison Bales--16
Lindsey Harding--15
Abby Waner--13
Joy Cheek--8
Wanisha Smith--8

Top 5 Rebounders:
Joy Cheek--14
Alison Bales--12
Lindsey Harding--8
Abby Waner--4
Wanisha Smith--3


Top 2 Assists:
Alison Bales--4
A. Waner, Harding, Smith--3

Top 2 Steals:
Abby Waner--6
Lindsey Harding--3

Top Blocks:
Alison Bales--4

29-0 and an undefeated regular season for the Blue Devils. :)
There were plenty of times in the game when the Devils would play sloppily. Due to this, Carolina would creep back into the game slowly and take a slight lead. Impressively, however, the Devils would make some key shots and some key steals during the final minutes of the game to win this one. There were some weird turnovers that had me pulling my head out but UNC happened to have more hair-pulling turnovers (20-15). Abby Waner had some excellent steals during the final minutes of the game. She also scored in double figures so maybe this means her little slump was over. It was a little worrying at the beginning becaus she was missing a lot of her shots.

Strangely enough, our free throw shooting was terrible. I trust that Coach G will have them practicing that for the next two days or somethng. As a whole, the Devils shot 15-33 from the charity stripe which converts to 45.5%. If they were to lose that game, that would really haunt them and their fans as well. As it is, it didn't hurt them as much as it could have. The Dukies are pretty good free throw shooters but today everyone had a problem. 3 of 7...2 of 7...4 of 8...3 of 7.
I figure, if we can beat a good UNC team while shooting this horribly from the FT line, then we have a good chance to win games when they can actually hit from there.

The Cameron crowd was intense and it was so great to watch that game. They had cool signs and at the end of the game (if I heard right) I think they were chanting "un-de-fea-ted" :)

Hopefully Duke can keep this up as pretty much everything is a must-win from now on considering one of their goals is to win the ACC tournament as well.

Congratulations to the Blue Devils on a great regular season! 29-0! 29-0!

Monday, February 19, 2007

Feb. 18--Duke Eases Past Maryland 69-57

We beat the Terps! We beat the Terps!!!!!

Top 5 Scorers:
Lindsey Harding--29 :) Just like in every big game this year, she stepped up.
Carrem Gay--14
Alison Bales--12
Wanisha Smith--7
Joy Cheek--4

Top 5 Rebounders:
Alison Bales--12
Wanisha Smith--7
Abby Waner--5
Harding, Mitchell, Cheek--4

Top 2 Assists:
Abby Waner--4
Bales, Cheek--2

Top 2 Steals:
Abby Waner--3
Joy Cheek--2

Top Blocks:
Alison Bales--2

On the Maryland side, I noticed that Kristi Toliver and Marissa Coleman had poor shooting nights (5--16 and 5-17).

On a personal note, damn I wish I could have seen this game. :(

Final regular season game for Duke next Sunday against North Carolina. It will be Senior's night as well. And, again, it's not on here. Good thing for LiveStats....

GO DUKE!!!

28-0

Friday, February 16, 2007

Feb. 15--Duke Blasts Boston College 73-52

Okay, I know I usually just put the stats in and leave it at that. And considering I had no access to this game whatsoever, I don't really have anything to say about the game. I WOULD like to say this though....

THIS BLUE DEVIL TEAM HAS ME SO STOKED!!!!

I'm a newbie Devil fan, really only coming on at the start of last year. I was more of a UConn fan before that. But man has this been fun. Maybe it's only the fact that they're undefeated. But I couldn't watch them at the start of the year and while I followed and supported them, it was from a little farther out. Then I FINALLY got to watch them and I LOVE the way they play. I wish they aired more games up here in Toronto. :(

Anyway, onto the game.

Top 5 Scorers:
Bridgette Mitchell--20 (Whoa, that's incredible)
Wanisha Smith--13
Carrem Gay--10
Alison Bales--9
Abby Waner--9

Top 5 Rebounders:
Bridgette Mitchell--10
Abby Waner--9
Carrem Gay--6
Alison Bales--5
Brittany Mitch--4

Top 2 Assists:
Wanisha Smith--7
Abby Waner, Lindsey Harding--3

Top 2 Steals:
Alison Bales--3
Carrem Gay--2

Top Blocks:
Alison Bales--6 (Okay, I can live again.)

And just on a sucky note, I subscribed to this special sports pack thing which gets me all forms of basketball possible here in Canada. Sometimes, when we're lucky, we get regional broadcasts of women's basketball games. So I was eagerly looking for the Duke--Maryland game and they didn't have it. Hello? How can we not have this?? Stupid waste of money...

LET'S GO DEVILS!!!!!

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Toronto Varsity Blues vs. Ryerson Rams =)

Okay, I saw the final home game of the Varsity Blues tonight. I had to wade through deep snow and blistering wind to get there too. Luckily, we won, so I went home a happy camper.

Toronto played really well. They utilized a lot of backdoor cuts and they executed their transition game.

I'm not a regular at these games as they're on weekends and I head home on weekends so I'm not familiar with the players. They missed a bunch of easy layups in the 2nd half when Ryerson was almost back in the game. Overall, though, my team was much better than the other team and we finish the season at 12-10.

One thing I did note was that their level of play seemed at least one level below that of the NCAA schools I watch most of the time. This isn't meant to be a diss to the Varsity Blues because I really enjoyed my time at the game awhile ago. This is just an observation. A lot of weird turnovers and out of control plays. Everytime someone would steal the ball and go the other way, it didn't turn out well probably 40% of the time.

Still, however, I had a blast and I'm looking at a way to get involved in that team next year which will be impossible since:
A. I'm not in the Physical Education Program (I think they get their managers from there)
B. I've never played basketball in my life
C. I'm probably the most un-sporty looking in the world.

Anyway, I'll see what develops. Maybe I can ask to cover women's sports for our newspaper, who knows.

On another note, the Varsity Blues play in a gym. With bleachers. It's not even an arena. It's in the middle of the sports and recreation centre. :( So much for that college basketball experience. I should have just gone to school in the US. :)

Feb. 11--Duke Pushes Past Wake Forest 77-45

Ok, I know that winning by 32 points is a pretty big margin. According to the article, however, it was much tighter than that with the Blue Devils playing very much unlike the no. 1 ranked team in the country. It took a yelling session by Coach G to get them out of it and recover in the 2nd half to get this kind of score. Even as I looked ahead to the treacherous two games we have left with Maryland and North Carolina, a part of me was nervous about a letdown after that UNC win. There may have been a slight letdown but in the end, they pulled it out to remain undefeated. They get a little bit of a rest before going against Boston College on Thursday.

Top 5 Scorers:
Lindsey Harding--13
Joy Cheek--13
Wanisha Smith--11
Bridgette Mitchell--9
Alison Bales--9

(Shocking, no Abby Waner who had 6 points on atrocious 2-11 shooting. She missed all 6 of her 3 pointers. I can't believe she can actually have a bad game. S'okay, she's going to light it up against BC)

(On another note, everytime there's a game that the Blue Devils have a hard time winning or when they are struggling, Lindsey Harding is almost always the leading scorer. That's what you call leadership and stepping it up)

Top 5 Rebounders:
Lindsey Harding--8
Wanisha Smith--7
Bridgette Mitchell--7
Joy Cheek--6
Alison Bales--5

Top 2 Assists:
Abby Waner--4
Wanisha Smith--4

Top 2 Steals:
Bales, A. Waner, Mitch--2

Top Blocks:
NONE

Okaaaay, weirded out by the no blocks bit.....hmmm.....Ali only played 22 minutes so maybe that's why....

Next up is Feb. 15 vs. Boston College.

LET'S GO DUKE!!!

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Feb. 8--Duke Crushes UNC 64-53

Yess!!!! I saw this game and the Devils rocked. I actually had an uneasy feeling the whole game, thinking the Devils were going to falter. At the half, if I'm not mistaken, they had somewhere between an eight to ten point lead. I turned to my sister and said: okay, I love the Blue Devils but methinks they're going to find a way to lose this game. Indeed, they started the second half really sluggishly. They let UNC come back to tie the game. THEN the Blue Devils showed what they're made of. They regrouped, they never panicked, and they put those damn Latta-led Tar Heels away. I think there were about 2 minutes left and they began making some shots (which weren't falling in the first part of the 2nd half) and I began to feel this overwhelming feeling of pride and joy. Granted, this is not the National Championship game. For this fan anyway, this win should be taken as a good sign, as well as a bragging point. The sign of great teams are when they are able to win even when they were just clutching onto the game with a single finger.

Huge, huge game for Lindsey Harding. She was a master point guard during this game. I was so impressed with the way she calmed the offense down (even with some pretty bad turnovers in the game, not necessarily by her).

Wanisha Smith kept making her shots, which was instrumental to this win. There was this point in the first half when Ali and the rest of the bigs kept missing their easy shots (yes, I was yelling my head off over here). Anyway, she'd pull up from midrange and hit those shots, keeping us with the advantage in the first half.

Not sure about Alison Bales shooting, etc. (and she got blocked like 3 times at least), but her defense was awesome. She had 7 blocks, fyi, and I didn't even notice it. She was doing something else more impressively. She wouldn't let the UNC players post up. Almost always, she'd force them out of the key and take away that shot, forcing them to pass or to make a lower percentage shot. She was just too strong and Duke will need her to be that good at defending the paint for them to have a shot at the NCAA tournament.

Abby Waner seemed to me to have a slow game at the beginning. But I checked out the stats and she had a pretty good game. She missed all her three-pointers, but she scored this one key basket at the end of the game that just took the winds out of UNC's sails. Also, there was this one shot in the first half where she drove baseline and made this little scoop shot which hit nothing but net. Now THAT was cool. There was this other posseession when she had the ball and was maneuvering through the UNC defense when for some strange reason, they just parted and she had this really nifty looking layup. :) Funny how I remember actual Waner possessions. Obviously, I'm a Waner fan.

The rest of the team played well as well. Good effort from the whole team.

I was also very impressed with Coach Goestenkors. I was freaking out over here and it's not even my team. She seemed to be calm the whole time. In fact, when the Devils were trying to seal the game with FTs, Lindsey Harding missed her two shots.Then someone else tried to hit from the stripe. They showed Harding and Coach G talking and Coach G was laughing about it with Harding and was like "What are you doing?" Then she did a pretend free throw. Harding was laughing sheepishly as well and trying to explain something (not sure about this. maybe she was just talking about the next play). Anyway, if I had to play for a coach, I'd want to play for someone like that. Also, love that at the end of the game, she was REAALLY happy. Almost giddy in fact. Go Coach G!!!!!

Top 5 Scorers:
Wanisha Smith--17
Abby Waner--16
Lindsey Harding--16
Alison Bales--7
Joy Cheek--6

Top 5 Rebounders:
Alison Bales--14
Lindsey Harding--9
Carrem Gay--5
Abby Waner--4
Wanisha Smith--4

Top 2 Assists:
Lindsey Harding--7
Bales, A. Waner, Smith--2

Top 2 Steals:
Alison Bales--4
Abby Waner--2

Top Blocks:
Alison Bales--7

LETS GO DUKE!!!!!!!

Feb. 5--Duke Thrashes Clemson 105-53

Top 5 Scorers:
Alison Bales--21
Carrem Gay--18
Abby Waner--16
Wanisha Smith--13
Brittany Mitch--9

Top 5 Rebounders:
Bridgette Mitchell--9
Alison Bales--8
Abby Waner--6
Carrem Gay--5
Smith, Mitch, Jackson--4

Top 2 Assists:
Lindsey Harding--6
Brittany Mitch--6

Top 2 Steals:
Bales, Cheek, Jackson--2

Top Blocks:
Alison Bales--3

Feb. 2--Duke Gets Past Virginia 76-61

Top 5 Scorers:
Lindsey Harding--21
Wanisha Smith--13
Abby Waner--12
Alison Bales--11
Joy Cheek--8

Top 5 Rebounders:
Alison Bales--12
Abby Waner--6
Bridgette Mitchell--5
Joy Cheek--3
Gay, Harding, Mitch--2

Top 2 Assists:
Lindsey Harding--4
Gay, Bales, A. Waner--2

Top 2 Steals:
A. Waner, Harding, Cheek--2

Top Blocks:
Alison Bales--4

Jan. 29--Duke Bounces Past Virginia Tech 75-65

Top 5 Scorers:
Abby Waner--18
Alison Bales--17
Lindsey Harding--15
Wanisha Smith--9
Bridgette Mitchell--6

Top 5 Rebounders:
Alison Bales--11
Abby Waner--6
Carrem Gay--5
Lindsey Harding--5
Wanisha Smith, Bridgette Mitchell--3

Top 2 Assists:
Wanisha Smith--6
Lindsey Harding--2

Top 2 Steals:
Abby Waner--5
Lindsey Harding--2

Top Blocks:
Alison Bales--5

Jan. 25--Duke Beats Florida State 73-60

Top 5 Scorers:
Alison Bales--15
Carrem Gay--14
Abby Waner--13
Wanisha Smith--12
Lindsey Harding--10

Top 5 Rebounders:
Alison Bales--9
Carrem Gay--8
Lindsey Harding--6
Brittany Mitch--5
Abby Waner--3

Top 2 Assists:
Lindsey Harding--5
Wanisha Smith--3

Top 2 Steals:
Abby Waner--4
Alison Bales, Lindsey Harding--2

Top Blocks:
Alison Bales--5

Jan. 22--Duke Escapes With a Win Over Tennessee 74-70

Top 5 Scorers:
Abby Waner--24
Lindsey Harding--21
Wanisha Smith--15
Alison Bales--8
Joy Cheek--4

Top 5 Rebounders:
Alison Bales--8
Carrem Gay--7
Abby Waner--5
Lindsey Harding--3
Emily Waner, Joy Cheek--2

Top 2 Assists:
Lindsey Harding--7
Alison Bales--4

Top 2 Steals:
Lindsey Harding--2
Alison Bales, Abby Waner--1

Top Blocks:
Alison Bales--4

Jan. 18--Duke Beats NC State 65-51

Top 5 Scorers:
Lindsey Harding--10
Brittany Mitch--10
Abby Waner--9
Emily Waner--8
Alison Bales--8

Top 5 Rebounders:
Carrem Gay--9
Abby Waner--7
Lindsey Harding--4
Joy Cheek--4
Alison Bales--4

Top 2 Assists:
Abby Waner--5
Wanisha Smith--5

Top 2 Steals:
Bridgette Mitchell--2
Wanisha Smith--2
Alison Bales--2

Top Blocks:
Alison Bales--4

Jan. 13--Duke Avenges NC Loss Vs. Maryland 81-62

Top 5 Scorers:
Lindsey Harding--28
Alison Bales--18
Wanisha Smith--15
Abby Waner--11
Bridgette Mitchell--4

Top 5 Rebounders:
Alison Bales--12
Lindsey Harding--8
Carrem Gay--7
Wanisha Smith--5
Abby Waner--4

Top 2 Assists:
Abby Waner--7
Lindsey Harding-4

Top 2 Steals:
Emily Waner--4
Abby Waner--2

Top Blocks:
Alison Bales--7

Jan. 10--Duke Zips Past Georgia Tech 83-51

Top 5 Scorers:
Abby Waner--27
Carrem Gay--16
Lindsey Harding--16
Joy Cheek--10
Alison Bales--7

Top 5 Rebounders:
Alison Bales--7
Carrem Gay--5
Joy Cheek--4
Abby Waner, Wanisha Smith, Bridgette Mitchell--3

Top 2 Assists:
Wanisha Smith--6
Lindsey Harding--5

Top 2 Steals:
Carrem Gay--4
Wanisha Smith, Emily Waner, Keturah Jackson--2

Top Blocks:
Alison Bales--6

Jan. 7--Duke Trounces Virginia Tech 86-54

Top 5 Scorers:
Abby Waner--20
Lindsey Harding--20
Wanisha Smith--14
Carrem Gay--11
Bridgette Mitchell--6

Top 5 Rebounders:
Joy Cheek--9
Carrem Gay--6
Bridgette Mitchell--5
Alison Bales, Abby Waner, Lindsey Harding--4

Top 2 Assists:
Wanisha Smith--6
Lindsey Harding--5

Top 2 Steals:
Carrem Gay--3
Abby Waner--3

Top Blocks:
Alison Bales--5

Jan. 3--Duke Blasts Past Miami 72-42

Top 5 Scorers:
Carrem Gay--12
Alison Bales--11
Abby Waner--10
Lindsey Harding--9
Wanisha Smith--8

Top 5 Rebounders:
Carrem Gay--10
Alison Bales--9
Emily Waner--7
Joy Cheek--6
Bridgette Mitchell, Lindsey Harding, Abby Waner--5

Top 2 Assists:
Abby Waner--5
Lindsey Harding--4

Top 2 Steals:
Carrem Gay--4
Bales, A. Waner, E. Waner, Mitchell, Mitch--2

Top Blocks:
Alison Bales--3

Dec. 30--Duke Breezes Past Boston U 71-43

Top 5 Scorers:
Carrem Gay--22
Lindsey Harding--17
Alison Bales--12
Abby Waner--6
Wanisha Smith--6

Top 5 Rebounders:
Carrem Gay--10
Wanisha Smith--7
Alison Bales--6
Abby Waner--6
Emily Waner, Bridgette Mitchell--4

Top 2 Assists:
Wanisha Smith--5
Brittany Mitch--4

Top 2 Steals:
Gay, Harding, Smith, Mitchell--2

Top Blocks:
Alison Bales--4

Dec. 29--Duke Downs Dartmouth 77-40

Top 5 Scorers:
Abby Waner--18
Alison Bales--12
Lindsey Harding--12
Emily Waner--12
Bridgette Mitchell--10

Top 5 Rebounders:
Alison Bales--9
Bridgette Mitchell--7
Brittany Mitch--7
Carrem Gay--5
Wanisha Smith--4

Top 2 Assists:
Wanisha Smith--6
Alison Bales--4

Top 2 Steals:
Carrem Gay--4
Abby Waner--3

Top Blocks:
Alison Bales--4

Dec. 21--Duke Rolls Over Pittsburgh 72-51

Top 5 Scorers:
Lindsey Harding--22
Carrem Gay--12
Wanisha Smith--11
Abby Waner--10
Alison Bales--8

Top 5 Rebounders:
Lindsey Harding--5
Alison Bales--4
Wanisha Smith--4
Bridgette Mitchell--4
Brittany Mitch, Carrem Gay--3

Top 2 Assists:
Lindsey Harding, Wanisha Smith, Brittany Mitch--3

Top 2 Steals:
Brittany Mitch--3
Carrem Gay, Joy Cheek--2

Top Blocks:
Lindsey Harding Alison Bales--2

Dec. 20--Duke Batters SMU 75-45

Top 5 Scorers:
Carrem Gay--12
Abby Waner--12
Alison Bales--10
Brittany Mitch--10
Lindsey Harding, Wanisha Smith--8

Top 5 Rebounders:
Joy Cheek--10
Alison Bales--9
Carrem Gay--6
Bridgette Mitchell--6
Keturah Jackson--5

Top 2 Assists:
Lindsey Harding--7
Abby Waner, Wanisha Smith--3

Top 2 Steals:
Abby Waner--3
Bridgette Mitchell--2
Brittany Mitch--2

Top Blocks:
Alison Bales--4

Dec. 19--Duke Wins Over Bowling Green 55-46

Top 5 Scorers:
Alison Bales--13
Lindsey Harding--13
Wanisha Smith--11
Abby Waner--9
Carrem Gay--4

Top 5 Rebounders:
Carrem Gay--9
Alison Bales--8
Wanisha Smith--6
Abby Waner--4
Lindsey Harding--3

Top 2 Assists:
Lindsey Harding--6
Wanisha Smith--4

Top 2 Steals:
Lindsey Harding--3
Abby Waner, Alison Bales--2

Top Blocks:
Alison Bales--7

Dec. 10--Duke Beats Texas 80-52

Top 5 Scorers:
Wanisha Smith--18
Lindsey Harding--14
Abby Waner--13
Alison Bales--10
Carrem Gay, Emily Waner, Bridgette Mitchell--7

Top 5 Rebounders:
Wanisha Smith--8
Joy Cheek--6
Alison Bales--5
Abby Waner--5
Carrem Gay--4

Top 2 Assists:
Lindsey Harding--4
Abby Waner, Wanisha Smith--3


Top 2 Steals:
Abby Waner--6
Joy Cheek--5

Top Blocks:
Alison Bales--4

Duke Blue Devils

I'm officially about 15 games behind schedule now on doing this stat thing but the great Blue Devil win over UNC today inspired me. I'll get to that game last but for now, here's the rest of the Blue Devil scores from December, all of them adding up to a 25-0 start!!!