WBB - Duke vs. Army 11/21

[DU82]

In between halves of the men's game, the women are starting against Army.

Lynee is warming up and appears may play. Haley on the other hand, is not. Must have a minor injury.

[DU82]

End of first quarter 23-17 Army. I believe they've hit five 3s, that story continues for our defense. Army seems to be out hustling us, and playing smarter. A lot of hand check fouls called, we have to learn the new rules.

Angela's played for much of the quarter after Crystal picked up two quick fouls. I'm beginning to see more of why there's so much praise for her. Fluid game.

Azura made two late p,as, including a steal and layup to end the quarter. Lynee has finally played, first time since her ACL injury last fall.

[fuse]

Chronicle is reporting Amber Henson on indefinite leave of absence from the team.
Coach McCallie's statement not particularly encouraging.

Wishing Amber all the best.

[nocilla]

Duke won the game btw, 72-61. Duke outscored Army 19-5 in the 3rd.

Azura Stevens led the way with 32 points on 14-18 shooting and added 14 rebounds.

[jimsumner]

At the postgame, we were told that Henson had tweaked her knee and might play in Cancun.

By the time I got back to Raleigh, Duke had released a statement that she had taken an indefinite leave of absence.

Not sure why we couldn't have been told that in person.

It should be noted that the women's basketball SID is also the women's soccer SID and was in Gainesville with the latter team. Probably handled differently had he been in Durham.

Haley Gorecki did not play. Sprained ankle. She was on the bench--Henson was not--but was not dressed out. Gorecki's availability for Cancun is TBD.

Lynee Belton made her first appearance in 11 months, scoring four points in 10 minutes. She's a pure center.

Between Belton, Oderah Chidom, Kendall Cooper and Erin Matthias, Duke should have the center spot covered in Henson's absence.

But I hope Henson is doing okay. I really like her. Maybe her knee is acting up, maybe she saw the hand-writing on the wall--she only played five minutes in her last game--maybe it's a demanding grad-school program. But as long as she's on a leave of absence, she's funded. I think everyone agrees that Duke owes her that.

I can probably find out more but I probably can't share it in this forum. Classic good news/bad news.

Back to the Army game. Army is the kind of well-coached, veteran team that gives unfocused majors trouble. And Duke was unfocused early, falling behind after two minutes and trailing 23-14 before Azura Stevens scored twice in the final 25 seconds of the first period.

The teams treaded water in the second period. Army has a 5-8 senior from California named Kelsey Minato and she can shoot. She worked hard to get open, Army worked hard to get her open and Duke lost her a few times. She was 4-6 on 3-pointers in the first half, which ended with Army up 34-31. Minato had 18 of Army's 34 points.

Doesn't take a rocket scientist. Duke got serious after intermission, hawking Minato and pounding it inside to Stevens early and often. Duke outscored Army 19-5 in the third period. Minato scored two points in the third.

Duke led by five to 10 points most of the fourth period before a steal and layup cut it to 59-55, with 2:55 left.

Duke stabilized, getting inside to Stevens, Angela Salvadores and Stevens again.

Salvadores brought down the house with a behind-the-back pass in transition to Greenwell, who converted the layup, to make it 67-57.

Greenwell missed the subsequent free throw-her only miss in five attempts but Cameron continued to rock at a volume not often heard for a women's game.

Stevens dominated, 32 points, 14 rebounds, one assist, one block and two steals. She did miss half of her eight foul shots and both of her 3-pointers. Given that she was 14-16 from inside the arc, perhaps she should leave the 3-point shooting to others.

Or perhaps not. Duke was 3-17 on 3s and an appalling 13-27 from the line. Greenwell was 1-8 on 3s but still found a way to score 13 points and added three assists and a couple of steals.

As did Salvadores, who played 32 minutes. She's getting it together and she's worth the price of admission. She also had five assists.

And Duke did reduce its turnovers to 13, after having 20 or more in its first three games.

But the complementary players didn't always complement. Crystal Primm started but picked up two fouls in less than 90 seconds and never recovered. Chidom was also in early foul trouble and played only 22 minutes, with six points and five rebounds. Cooper and Mathias were unproductive. Kyra Lambert played 35 minutes and gave Duke one assist and zero points. McCallie said Lambert needs to learn how to attack zones. In her favor, Lambert had only a single turnover in those 35 minutes.

Duke's best role player was Mercedes Riggs, who got two minutes in the first half and had a stat line of zeros. But Riggs calmed the team down, got them refocused and Duke played better.

The officials called 22 fouls on Army and 21 on Duke and I'm pretty certain no one knows what constitutes a foul. Which is what happens every season, when the powers-that-be promise to clean up the game and then revert to the status-quo-antebellum around the middle of the season.