Last night’s women’s basketball game between Virginia and Duke probably could be characterized as a slugfest. Physicality on both ends of the court and stalwart defensive play throughout the game ended up favoring the visiting team, as the host Cavaliers fell to the Blue Devils 81-67.
At the start of the game, Virginia seemed to have found the kind of defense that would be necessary to beat a formidable opponent such as No. 4 Duke.
“I think we were more than prepared,” senior forward Lyndra Littles said. “I thought we knew the scouting report, I thought we knew the personnel. It was obvious from [our] 13-2 [lead]. We were up for most of the half and then we kind relaxed up, and it just started to crumble from there.”
As inspired as the Cavaliers played during the first 10 minutes of regulation, though, the next 10 minutes were just as discouraging. Virginia’s defense held Duke to only two baskets in 17 attempts with 9:20 remaining in the first half, but the Blue Devils switched to a full court press and Virginia’s frustration quickly surfaced. Duke took advantage of the Cavaliers, storming back to enter the break up eight points.
Then, in the second half, the metaphorical wheels entirely came off what Maryland coach Brenda Frese had referred to as the Cavalier “freight train.” The same Virginia attack that dropped 58 points in a half against Maryland last Friday allowed Duke to shoot 65.5 percent from the floor in the second period of play.
Possession after possession seemed to be characterized by Duke’s seemingly effortless penetration into an increasingly porous Virginia defense. Even when the Cavaliers did manage to force a miss, they failed repeatedly to secure the defensive board.
“We didn’t get many rebounds,” Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said. “There were a lot of times when we got stops and they would get the offensive board. That was very deflating and very tough. We didn’t get many rebounds where we could just run.”
In addition to rebounds, the Cavaliers also came up short in transition, stymying any hope Virginia had for a late game run.
“When we did [get rebounds], we got out there, we got some easy stuff,” Ryan said. “But even the easy stuff we didn’t make. We didn’t make easy stuff tonight.”
On the bright side, Virginia did manage to eliminate Duke’s perimeter shooting threat, holding the visitors to 0-10 shooting from beyond the arc and ending Duke’s 21-game streak in which the Blue Devils had scored at least one 3-point shot.
The price the Cavaliers paid, however, came in the form of 48 points in the paint by Duke.
Senior Chante Black “wasn’t the problem,” Ryan said. “Black had 13 points; I’m not worried about that.”
While the 6-foot-5 center may not have hurt the Cavaliers in the scoring column, her presence seemed to affect the team in less obvious ways.
“We kind of just gave up the middle penetration,” senior point guard Britnee Millner said. “I feel like we were focused more on helping and trying to shut down Chante Black a little bit that we did give up the middle way too much. We just never had our feet set.”
Although last night’s defeat may come as a demoralizing loss, it also may contain a silver lining for the Cavaliers, as the team moves ahead having identified its greatest weakness.
“We did not defend, and that is the only way we score,” Ryan said. “We score only when we defend and rebound, that is our game.”
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