A statistical outlier kind of game
McCAMISH PAVILION — #18 Georgia Tech Women’s Basketball in a slugfest just didn’t have enough punches to throw as they fell to the #14 Duke Blue Devils 55-50 for their 4th loss of the season and now sit 5-4 in ACC play, good enough for 9th place as of writing and the lowest of the teams with a winning conference record.
“Duke is probably the best defensive team in the country. They absolutely played phenomenal defense and they did exactly what they needed to do to beat us. They shut down the people they needed to shut down and let open the people they needed to let open for shots,” said Tech head coach Nell Fortner.
That execution by Duke resulted in Tech shooting 5% from three (1-20) and 33% from the field, of the worst performances statistically Tech has had all year. The 50 points is the least they’ve scored all season by 10 points. Combined with Duke, the total three point shooting today was 4-30.
That person Duke left open: Zoe Smith. Without her, Tech is looking at a double digit loss as she shot 8-13 with 16 points and 13 rebounds, good enough for her 3rd double-double this season and her 5th overall.
“Zoe really gave us a lot of confidence, and that should giver her a lot of confidence,” said Fortner.
“I thought our effort was phenomenal defensively to stop the people we needed to stop. Ashlon Jackson did not score other than the free throw line,” noted Fortner. Tech’s defense did indeed stay at a high level all game not giving Duke much wiggle room aside from the few moments Duke was able to move the ball effectively for transition buckets.
This was the second game back from injury for star freshman Dani Carnegie who finished with two points on 1-13 shooting.
“Offensively, it was just a tough day for us. Who’s gonna think Dani Carnegie is going to shoo the ball like that or it’s going to be so hard for people to get shots, but that’s Duke’s defense,” said Fortner.
In a sense, this was a game where the shots just didn’t fall when Tech had open looks. There is not reason to not believe if this game was played again with all the same looks, Tech finds themselves scoring 60 instead of 50. On the flip side, the Duke defense truly did do the best any defense has done against Tech this season.
“This will be great to go back and look at and do teaching points and also good for the coaches to go back and look at,” said Fortner.
On a brighter note, Kara Dunn eclipsed the 1,000 career point mark with her 10 point performance, joining Tonie Morgan in that club who accomplished the feat earlier in January.
The crowd of 4,301 was the 9th largest in Georgia Tech Women’s Basketball history, making now seven of the top 10 most attended games in program history occurring in the 21st century and three in the last two seasons.
How It Happened
1Q
Smith and Morgan got the initial buckets for a 4-0 Tech lead. Duke was doing a good job putting pressure in the paint and forcing Tech to make defensive plays, which included a block by Morgan and increased paint awareness from Termis as the Blue Devils were trying to find ways to get her out of position. Chit-Chat Wright hit what’s becoming a semi-signature floater plus a deep three to make it a 9-3 game.
After Morgan hit a couple free throws to make it 13-7, two Taina Mair threes got Duke back into it to make it 18-15 with two minutes left. Duke’s ball pressure got stronger in those last couple minute as Tech missed all four of their final field goals.
2Q (18-17 GT)
Duke took the lead to start the quarter on a Okananwa bucket before Dani Carnegie was called for consecutive travels (Fortner subbed in Tianna Thompson in response), of which Duke got a bucket off those turnovers. Duke stretched the lead to four after a Delaney Thomas layup, after which Fortner was able to get the starting 5 in the game, which found a rhythm with three straight buckets to tie it at 25-25.
Duke scored immediately after Smith tied it at 25, then Tech went empty on a triple possession where they never got a clear open shot. Duke scored again to get the lead to four before Carnegie was called for her third travel of the quarter. Smith again hit a bucket to shrink it to two before Carnegie missed a wide open transition three, which Duke took advantage of and easily scored for the last bucket of the quarter.
Stats via Georgia Tech
3Q (31-27 Duke)
After scoring one point in the first half, Kara Dunn scored eight of Tech’s first ten points on a couple layups and free throws, crossing the 1,000 career point threshold. At 35-33 Duke, Smith missed her first field goal of the game after going 6-6 to start. Tech generally looked faster coming out, getting open three looks for Wright and Carnegie that didn’t land. Dunn tied it at 35-35 and 37-37 before two straight Duke buckets put them back up four. That lead held to the 1:47 mark after a short string of turnovers (including one where the ref said our inbounds passer didn’t go fully out of bounds to pass the ball after a Duke bucket) when Fortner called Tech’s first timeout of the game.
Carnegie finally got her first real bucket of the game, hitting a reverse layup then Smith hit yet another jumper to keep it a two point game. Tech’s final possession saw Carnegie with another chance at a wide open transition three, which she hit only backboard right of the rim, but Smith was positioned perfectly for a putback bucket to tie it up.
4Q (45-45)
The scrappiness level only racheted up to start the 4th, plus the refs were letting some calls go that took away free throws and contributed a turnover on Tech. Duke thankfully in the first couple minutes struggled to finish at the rim and had a couple turnovers of their own. Blackshear got Tech the lead back on an open layup for a 47-45 lead, but Tech only made one more bucket in their next nine shots while Duke went on an 8-2 run for a 53-49 lead at the 4:18 media timeout.
Tech defensively locked down in the final minutes of the game, only allowing one more Duke bucket to the sub-1:00 mark, but offensively looked far too lethargic with minimal off ball movement to create a good look for anyone, including on a critical possession down six with under 1:40 left.
After Carnegie missed a three pointer down 55-50, Tech started fouling with nine seconds left, having three fouls to give in the bag. They were not able to get the ball back before the final buzzer, scoring only five points in the quarter.
Stats & Game Leaders
Stats via Georgia Tech
Game Leaders
Points: Zoe Smith (GT) – 16
Assists: Taina Mair (Duke)/Tonie Morgan (GT) – 5
Rebounds: Zoe Smith (GT) – 13
3PM: Taina Mair (Duke) – 2
#18 Georgia Tech has a week off before their next game on February 2nd at Miami at 2 p.m.