N.C. State packs up for a visit to U-Hall Thursday night in a much-anticipated rematch with the Virginia women's basketball team.
The Cavaliers (10-12, 4-7 ACC) lacked an answer to Duke's defense Monday night. They struggled offensively in the 75-48 blowout at Cameron. Down by nine at half, and with the Duke lead whittled to just four with 12 minutes, 45 seconds to go, the Blue Devils scored 10 unanswered points as part of a larger 17-4 run to put the game out of reach.
Sophomore guard Cherisse Graham, who was forced to sit out the first Duke game after being suspended for an altercation with teammate Brandi Teamer, led the team in scoring with 11 points. Teamer, who also was suspended for the first game, chipped in 10, as did sophomore guard Latonya Blue. Blue led the team with six rebounds, six assists and 38 minutes, but shot a paltry 2-for-14 from the field in the Cavaliers' 10th consecutive road loss.
The lopsided defeat comes as a surprise to a Virginia team that played Duke to the very last shot in their first meeting at U-Hall in January. However, coach Debbie Ryan was quick to refute the suggestion that a loss like this would be mentally draining for the Cavaliers.
"Not at all. We're going to move right on," Ryan said. "It counts like any other game. We're not going to spend any time on it, we're just going to move right on."
Ryan and her team will be moving on to play a Wolfpack squad that recently snapped a four-game losing streak with a victory over Florida State Sunday. It was only the third conference loss of the season for the Seminoles, who never led in the game after going scoreless for the first six and a half minutes in the 57-52 N.C. State victory.
N.C. State (10-12, 5-6 ACC) is led by 6-foot-3 center Kaayla Chones, ninth in the ACC in scoring with 14.4 points per game. Chones, a redshirt junior, recorded her 1000th career point against Florida State. She is regarded as the best player on the Wolfpack team, and is in the top of the ACC in all categories typically dominated by power positions. Chones is first in defensive rebounds with 6.64 per game, second in field goal percentage at .509, third in total rebounds with 8.2 per outing and fourth in blocks, swatting 1.36 shots a contest.
The teams' first meeting was in Raleigh on January 12th, when the Wolfpack's Terah James hit a 15-foot jumper with only two seconds remaining to put her team up for good, 50-49. The shot came after Blue sank two crucial free throws with 11 seconds on the clock, giving Virginia the lead at 49-48. Following a timeout, the 'Pack's Kendra Bell dribbled the length of the court and passed to an open James, who was rolling off a Chones screen. James dribbled to the right wing and stuck the dagger in the Cavaliers' hearts.
The loss marked the culmination of Virginia's worst ACC start in school history, at 0-4. Since the heartbreak at Reynolds Coliseum, the Cavaliers have rebounded to go 4-3 against conference opponents. They are 8-2 at home this season and sit in a tie for sixth in the ACC standings with Clemson.
Coach Ryan does not seem worried about the prospect of playing a team that held her players to a measly 29.3 percent shooting that night, and season lows of 7.7 percent three-point shooting (1-for-13) and 19 first-half points.
"I wouldn't do much differently at all," Ryan said. "It was a one- point game and we're just going to play them"
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