Currie Leads Duke to Conference Title
Monique Currie scored a career-high 30 points and Alana Beard added 25 as the third-ranked Duke Blue Devils became the first women’s team to complete a perfect run through the Atlantic Coast Conference with an 87-80 win over No. 16 North Carolina in the tournament championship Monday night at Greensboro, N.C.
The win extended the Blue Devils’ school-record win streak to 18 and probably secured a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament for a team that went 16-0 in league play and won its third straight ACC crown.
“Even when we went 16-0, I don’t think we could really appreciate it because we had this next goal right in front of us that we had to get ready for,” Duke Coach Gail Goestenkors said. “This is such a tremendous league, and to be able to run the table is something.”
Beard, the ACC’s leading scorer, was quiet most of the night, but saved her best for late.
The sophomore guard scored 11 straight down the stretch as Duke took control with three minutes left.
Top-seeded Duke (27-3) beat the second-seeded Tar Heels (24-8) by 20 and 15 during the season, but this one wasn’t easy as the Blue Devils turned it over 21 times.
OTHER TOURNAMENTS
Big East--No. 1 Connecticut (32-0) scored the first 19 points and made 14 of its first 16 shots at Piscataway, N.J., in blowing out Villanova, 83-39, in the biggest semifinal victory in the history of the conference tournament.... In the other semifinal, Jessalyn Deveny set career highs with 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead No. 20 Boston College to a 67-48 victory over Syracuse. The final is tonight.
Big Ten--Heather Cassady scored 21 points and Erin McGinnis added 17 as Indiana (17-13) upset No. 23 Penn State, 75-72, at Indianapolis, to win the Big Ten tournament championship and earn its first NCAA bid since 1995.
Conference USA--Valerie King scored 23 points as No. 21 Cincinnati ended Tulane’s three-year reign as Conference USA women’s tournament champions with a 68-56 victory at Chicago. Laura Wilder had 15 points and K.B. Sharp added 14 for Cincinnati (26-4), which lost to the Green Wave in last year’s championship final.
Sun Belt--Gergana Slavtcheva had 27 points and 10 rebounds to lead No. 25 Florida International to an 80-65 victory over Denver in the semifinals of the Sun Belt tournament at New Orleans. Today in the championship game, Florida International (25-5) will play North Texas (21-7), which beat Western Kentucky, 84-52.