Women's Hoops Guru

By Mel Greenberg

DURHAM,N,C, _ The Research Triangle was more like the Bermuda Triangle for No. 4 Rutgers, whose reverse direction toward the top of the polls was blunted by No. 17 Duke, 49-44, Thursday night, in the first meeting of the two national powers since the Scarlet Knights' dramatic upset of the Blue Devils in the NCAA tournament regional fnals last March.

Rutgers (5-2) seemed ready to put an exclamation point on Monday's rally over No. 3 Maryland when the Scarlet Knights took an 11-2 lead in the opening minutes of the game.

But then Duke (6-3) went to a zone defense and Rutgers' momentum quickly vanished as the game transformed into a low-scoring battle the rest of the way.

However, unlike the Scarlet Knights' similar low-scoring game against then-No. 6 LSU, which they prevaled 45-43, this one was not about great defense on both sides.

However, first-year coach Joanne P. McCallie was pleased with her team's ability to get stops, especially down the stretch.

``It was a very physical game,'' McCallie said. ``I loved the defense played on the floor and the scrappiness of our teamd and their grit. It was really fund to watch the time and score plays down the stretch in terms of the rebounds and hustle plays.''

Duke, which halted a three-game slide that took the Blue Devils out of the Top 10 for the first time in the 21st century, had trouble scoring, also, missing a ton of makeable shots, especially in the first half.

In fact, when the buzz in the media room during intermission featured the phrase 19-17, it was hard to discern whether the discussion was over Rutgers' slim lead or a World War I movie.

Then having seen enough from her team's lackluster performance in which the Scarlet Knights were holding a narrow 21-20 lead with 17:51 left in the game, Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer became quite the magician in making her starting five disappear altogether.

When they returned almost three minutes later, Rutgers trailed, 25-21. But the Scarlet Knights kept it close and led by as many as four-points at 42-38 with 4:17 left to play.

However, Rutgers would score only one more basket the rest of the way, a jumper by Essence Carson that tied the score, 44-44, with 1:05 left in the game.

Junior Carrem Gay's foul shot gave Duke a 45-44 lead with 30 seconds left. Shortly afterwards, a technical foul was assessed to Rutgers' bench, later believed to be Stringer for shouting at an official. Abby made it a three-point lead with 10 seconds to play on two free throws and Keturah Jackson made two foul shots on separate trips to the line for Duke in the final seconds.

It was missed free throws by Lindsey Harding, Duke's top player, with less than a second remaining last March, that enabled Rutgers to move on to a win two days later against Arizona State and a trip to the Final Four.

Gay said she that went she went to the line to give Duke the lead, she didn't have any flashbacks to the Blue Devils' demise last spring.

``Not at all,'' Gay said. ``It was just like a regular free throw we shoot in practice. It doesn't matter who shot them before.''

Gay and Chante Black each had team-highs of 11 points for Duke, while Rutgers' Epiphanny Prince, the scoring heroine in the Scarlet Knights's rally over Maryland, was the only Rutgers player in double figures with 15 points. Kia Vaughn grabbed 11 rebounds.

A year ago this time, Stringer's unhappiness over her squad caused her to toss them out of the their lockerroom for several weeks.

Thursday will be remembered for her tossing her key elements off the floor in the middle of a hotly-contested -- or coldly-contested -- game and not being concerned with the implcations.

``Winning games doesn't mean that much to me,'' said Stringer, who actually has 782 victories in her resume that includes taking three different programs to the Final Four.

``If we aren't doing the things we're supposed to do, I will take out everybody and I'll take a loss. You can't have your hands tied. We lost a lot of sense in what we were doing, offensively and defensively.

``Here, it doesn't matter that Duke has lost three games and it doesn't matter what Duke looks like because they are great players and they have a lot of pride and they play together,'' Stringer continued. ``We were not communicating nearly as much as we needed to and we were a second late on everything.

``We took breaks on (fast) breaks. You can't take a break on a play with a team like Duke. We looked like we were tired so why not get a break? The other group tried. Whatever you are, whoever you are, I recognize when I'm getting your greatest effort. And I felt that second team was doing the best they can. And with that, that's why they stayed in as long as they did.

``We should have been doubling and we forgot half the tme.There seemed to be miscues. I think Duke really wanted it more and I think for some reason we made excuses for ourselves. We had no excuse (tough schedule, especially this week in time space) and we just weren't as tough as we needed to be and we deserved to lose.''

(Speaking of excuses, note to the Rutgers' fan base, who always seemed focused on the topic; Neutral observers and several in the media, including those in the Duke contingent, thought the Scarlet Knights were treated to a bit of a cooking that was not related to the fine culinary barbeque delights in these parts. But that's not what the prime factor was in the loss.).

``Is it grinding?" Stringer responded to a question about the schedule. ``Guess what? We have to fly back tonight and have practice tomorrow for a game the next day. You just have to get up. The great teams get up and they don't make excuses. They just get it done.''

Rutgers will meet Army, 2 p.m., Saturday in Madison Square Garden in New York as part of the Maggie Dixon Classic in which Duke will play Pittsburgh at noon in the doubleheader.

``I know this may sound strange to you, but the game is pretty,'' Stringer said. ``It's beautfiful. It's a song to me. And I've got to have it sung a certain way. Winning and losing takes care of itself. If it was just about winning, I wouldn't have made that move. I have done this all my life because I can'[t stand for this game to be played but one way.

``I don't know what this was -- this was very disjointed and it was out of harmony. Like a pretty song, it needs to be pretty. It's poetic. It flows. It did not flow and I'm not happy. I don''t want wins like that. There's a certain way that I want to win.''

Asked what she thought from her bench when Rutgers' starters were pulled, McCallie responded, ``I didn't have time to worry about that. We had too many things going on at our bench.''

And even with a sudden increased advantage, it wasn't like destiny was ready to award shots of revenge to the Blue Devils and McCallie, who suffered separate frustrations against Rutgers last season.

McCallie's former Michigan State team lost twice, including a second-round NCAA tournament game that sent Rutgers on to Greensboro, N.C., and the dramatic win over Duke, then the overall No. 1 seed in the tournament.

-- Mel