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March 5, 2005

GREENSBORO - Give the Duke women's basketball team credit for not resting on past accomplishments.

The five-time defending league champion Blue Devils had won a record 15 straight ACC Tournament games heading into the quarterfinals against Wake Forest -- a team they had beaten 27 in a row dating to 1994.

Time for a little letdown, right?

Not on Saturday night as second-seeded Duke (27-3) jumped out to a 20-4 lead in the game's opening five minutes and rolled past Wake Forest 107-50 to advance to the semifinals.

"We shared the ball extremely well and I thought we were very, very focused," Duke coach Gail Goestenkors said. "We were ready to go."

No kidding.

It was a record-setting night all around for the Blue Devils, whose point total set a single-game ACC Tournament record, beating the previous mark of 106 by Virginia over Maryland in the 1993 finals.

The 57-point victory margin also tied for second-largest in tournament history.

"That's the best 40 minutes of basketball I've ever seen any team play on any level," Wake Forest coach Mike Petersen said. "You've got to give tremendous credit to Duke to how well they played, for how hard they played and how efficient they were."

Duke had more baskets (26) than Wake Forest had field-goal attempts (22) in the opening 20 minutes en route to a 62-26 lead.

The Blue Devils had their fast break in high gearing, while nailing 7 of 12 3-pointers in a remarkable 68.4 percent shooting half.

"They got us on our heels, and against a team that is as talented and efficient as Duke if you get on your heels you've got real issues and we had real issues tonight," Petersen said.

All but one of Duke's eight players scored in double figures as Mistie Williams and Wanisha Smith led the way with 17 each.

The rest of the Blue Devils' stats were just as amazing -- 12-for-22 from 3-point range, a 48-22 advantage on the boards and all eight players shooting 50 percent or better.

Williams said a regular-season ending loss at home to top-seeded North Carolina was motivation leading into the tournament.

"No one ever wants to lose," Williams said. "But you can't really dwell on a loss. The ACC Tournament is a whole new season for us."

Wake Forest gave up 99 points to Duke in the only regular-season meeting between the two teams and shot just 24.5 percent this time.

Meanwhile, Duke improved to 18-0 at its "Home Away From Home" - the Greensboro Coliseum.

"The tradition started before I got here and coming into the Greensboro Coliseum we all know that tradition," Williams said. "You have to have that pride and come on the court with that pride. We all talked about it in practice and together as a team. Every team is going to come after what we have accomplished."

By DAVID DROSCHAK
TheACC.com