Duke Dominates North Carolina

After a close call in January, Duke left little doubt in its second meeting with North Carolina who is No. 1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Iciss Tillis scored 21 points and Alana Beard had 19 as the No. 2 Blue Devils ran their ACC winning streak to 37 in a row with a 97-63 victory over the No. 6 Tar Heels at Durham, N.C.

“We wanted to make a statement. Some people think we’ve been lucky over the course of the season,” Duke Coach Gail Goestenkors said. “We wanted to prove to everybody that we actually do have some skills and we’re a pretty good team.”

The comment was a jab at North Carolina Coach Sylvia Hatchell, who said the Blue Devils were one of the luckiest teams around after a 78-67 overtime victory at Chapel Hill.

The Blue Devils (25-1, 13-0) have won five consecutive ACC games by double digits since losing to top-ranked Connecticut on Feb. 1.

Hatchell held up a stat sheet after the game and just shook her head.

“Since the Connecticut game they have been a buzz saw,” Hatchell said of the Blue Devils. “I think my team is in a comfort zone right now and we’ve got to get out of that comfort zone. Maybe this was a wake-up call for us.”

Tillis and Beard combined to score 48 points in Duke’s win against the Tar Heels (23-3, 12-2) a month ago.

And once again, Duke’s defense was key, forcing 20 turnovers and blocking 13 shots.

“This was our most complete team effort of the season,” said Goestenkors, whose club shot 54%. “There was great emotion on the court and on the bench.”

Coretta Brown, UNC’s leading scorer averaging 15.8 points in ACC games, had another rough outing against Duke. The senior guard had only five points a month ago against the Blue Devils and didn’t score in this one until there was 10:10 left and Duke up by 22. She ended up with five points on 2-of-11 shooting.

North Carolina shot 36%.

OTHER GAMES

No. 3 Tennessee (23-3, 11-0 Southeastern Conference) beat No. 13 Georgia 87-60 at Knoxville, Tenn., extending its winning streak to 14 games .... Ke-Ke Tardy scored 19 points and Aiysha Smith had 18 points as No. 4 Louisiana State (22-1, 9-1 SEC) defeated Mississippi (12-12, 1-10) 83-67 at Oxford, Miss. ... No. 7 Louisiana Tech (22-2, 14-0 WAC) clinched its second consecutive Western Athletic Conference title in a 80-63 victory over Rice (10-12, 7-6) at Houston.... No. 11 Purdue (21-4, 10-3 Big Ten) staved off an upset in a 65-60 win over Michigan State (22-6, 12-2) at West Lafayette, Ind. ... Kelly Mazzante scored 23 points and Tanisha Wright had 17 to lead No. 12 Penn State (22-6, 12-2 Big Ten) to a 75-61 victory over Michigan (11-13, 2-11) at State College, Pa. ... LaToya Thomas scored 35 points in No. 14 Mississippi State’s (19-6, 7-4 SEC) 72-59 win over No. 15 Arkansas (19-7, 6-5) at Fayetteville, Ark. ... Lindsay Whalen scored 24 points and Janel McCarville added 22 points on eight-for-eight shooting as No. 16 Minnesota (20-4, 9-4 Big Ten) pulled away in the final seven minutes of a 77-60 victory over Iowa (13-11, 5-8) at Iowa City. ... Hollye Chapman scored 22 points and had nine rebounds as Oregon State (13-11, 7-8) was a 100-86 upset winner over No. 23 Washington (19-6, 11-5 Pac-10) at Corvallis, Ore.