Duke Women Reach Final

OK, Duke men, now it’s your turn.

Nicole Erickson had 22 points and Michele VanGorp had 20 and the women Blue Devils held Georgia’s Miller twins to 31 combined points to reach the national title game with an 81-69 victory over the Lady Bulldogs on Friday night.

Duke’s men will try to match the success of their female counterparts today when they face Michigan State in the national semifinals at St. Petersburg, Fla.

The female Blue Devils, making their first trip to the Final Four, will face Purdue or Louisiana Tech in the championship game Sunday night.

Following up on their shocking defeat of three-time defending champion Tennessee in the East Regional final, Duke built a 15-point lead early in the second half and used a late 16-3 run to rebuild its advantage after Georgia pulled within six.

Georgia Schweitzer added 13 points for Duke (29-6), which was nine of 16 on three-pointers.

Coco Miller scored 18 points and identical twin Kelly Miller added 13 for Georgia (27-7).

The Blue Devils’ defeat of Tennessee on Monday made Duke the second school to send its men’s and women’s teams to the NCAA tournament Final Four in the same season. Georgia was the other, in 1983.

The absence of Tennessee and star Chamique Holdsclaw, the two-time national player of the year, took some of the luster off the women’s Final Four. There were large patches of empty seats in the 17,709-capacity San Jose Arena.