This season, the Duke women's basketball team has ended its practices with a simple drill. The game clock at Cameron Indoor Stadium is set at four minutes. The scoreboard reads "70-70."
Although the Blue Devils had outscored their opponents by an average of 20.7 points, the practice time simulation would prove worthwhile.
That's because when the Greensboro Coliseum scoreboard showed that with four minutes remained in ACC Tournament title game against North Carolina, there it was, just like they had practiced: Duke 70, UNC 70.
The Tar Heels could only have wished the Blue Devils weren't as battle-tested. Shortly after the 16-minute mark, Duke grabbed the lead for good to cap off an undefeated ACC regular season with a three-game sweep in the tournament, beating UNC 87-80 before 9,204.
"I hope our practices have paid off," said Duke coach Gail Goestenkors. "And certainly we have had such big leads through many of the ACC games that we know we have to prepare ourselves to be tied or be behind."
Throughout the game, Duke (27-3) used a two-headed attack of Monique Currie and Alana Beard to score against the Tar Heels' varied defensive sets.
In the first half, the Blue Devils went to Currie. UNC (24-8) was unable to keep Currie out of the paint. The 6-foot freshman got into the lane with ease throughout the first half and drew foul after foul against UNC's late-rotating defense. Currie hit all 10 of her free throws before the break en route to a 20-point first half.
But the Tar Heels' clutch offensive rebounding and Duke's inability to find another first-half scoring option allowed UNC to cling to a 38-37 halftime lead.
North Carolina went to the glass early and often, securing 16 offensive boards in the first half alone. And UNC eventually found success with its inside-out offense to take a one-point lead at the break.
