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Women's Hoops Falls to ACC Rival No. 9 Duke
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February 4, 1999
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Peppi Browne scored 7 of her 20 points during agame-ending 33-5 run Thursday night and No. 9 Duke remained perfect in theAtlantic Coast Conference with a 66-56 victory over No. 16 Virginia.
The Blue Devils (19-4, 11-0), trying to join the 1994-95 Cavaliers as theonly team to go through a 16-game ACC schedule unbeaten, made their run on theheels of a 17-2 Virginia burst that seemed to end the suspense.
But the Cavaliers (15-6, 8-3) went cold after DeMya Walker’s 3-pointer with12:34 left gave them a 51-33 lead, making just two field goals the rest of theway and three times missing the front end of one-and-one free throws.
The crowd, whipped into a frenzy by a leaping, arm-flapping Virginia coachDebbie Ryan during the early burst, watched in near-disbelief as the hated archrivals methodically sliced into the lead until it was gone.
Nicole Erickson started the comeback with a jumper from the top of the key,the first of 15 straight Blue Devils points until Lesley Brown scored on aputback with 6:48 to play. Brown followed a 3-pointer by Naz Medhanie withanother basket, but Duke reeled off the next nine points to ice it. The BlueDevils were 11-for-14 from the free throw line in the final 3:23.
Browne also grabbed 14 rebounds. Erickson finished with 13 points. Virginia, without starting forward and No. 3 scorer Monick Foote, who missedthe game with abdominal pain, was paced by DeMya Walker with 11 points and 10rebounds. Walker also missed two one-and-one chances late.
Virginia led 34-29 at halftime after limiting the Blue Devils to two fieldgoals in the last 14 minutes. Duke made just seven in the half in 28 tries, butconverted 13 of 16 free throw attempts to keep it close.
By HANK KURZ Jr.
AP Sports Writer