Victory Late But Sweet For Duke Women

It won't make up for that bitter, bitter defeat in last April's National Championship game, but you'd better believe Saturday's 81-62 thrashing of top ranked Maryland was very sweet for the Duke women's basketball team.

Losing that 13-point second-half lead and losing a championship that they knew should have been theirs had eaten at this program for months. It's a wound that will never heal, but a day like today certainly eased the pain.

I don't think anybody expected this kind of score. The crowd didn't, and certainly neither of the teams did. This was supposed to be a nail-biter. These were two of the top three teams in the country, and two undefeated giants of women's basketball.

The Devils' senior point guard Lindsey Harding told us that as she took the court at a sold-out and partisan Cameron Indoor Stadium, she was smiling as wide as the Mississippi River. But that soon changed as a Maryland fan held up a sign that taunted the Devils. "Maryland 78, Duke 75," it said -- of course, referring to the score of last season's championship game. Harding said that chilling reminder of Duke's championship collapse quickly wiped the smile off her face and caused her to really focus on the game ahead.

There was no question that Duke wanted this game more, and none wanted it more than the cat-like Harding. She was relentless, dashing to the basket for 28 points, hitting the glass for eight rebounds and handing out four assists. It made no difference who covered her, because no one could. She told us her attitude was attack and keep on attacking, and if Maryland could stop her, more power to them. They couldn't.

Another key for Duke was 6 foot 7 inch Alison Bales. She hit a couple of early mid-range shots, and you could see her confidence build. Bales had 18 points, 12 rebounds and kept Maryland tentative inside with seven blocked shots.

Maryland coach Brenda Frese admitted that her team was out-played, out-worked and out-coached, and she was right on this day. Maryland was shooting a nations' best 58 percent coming into this game, but Duke held them to just 37.8 percent.

"Today we were very good. Now we've got to be consistent in what we do," a happy Blue Devils coach Gail Goestenkors said. "Our defense has always been good, has always been steady for us. Offensively, we did some things we haven't done in some other big games."

Duke sophomore Abby Waner, who was in uncontrollable tears after last year's loss in the finals, was all smiles today. But she said, "With a win today, we don't win last year's National Championship."

And that is true. But this is a new year and a new season, and Duke got a big win.