(Guru's note: Here's the Associated Press report)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHICAGO — Lisa Etienne thinks she and Hartford caught No. 6 Duke
napping. They definitely caught the Blue Devils on an off night.
Etienne scored 15 points to help Hartford upset the sloppy Devils
53-51 in the first game of the DePaul Invitational on Friday night.
“I think they underestimated us because we’re Hartford,” Etienne
said. “I hope that people realize that they should take Hartford
seriously and we got more recognition that we are a serious
basketball team.”
Diana Delva had 12 and MaryLynne Schaefer added 10 for the Hawks
(3-0), who beat a ranked team for the fourth straight season.
Duke (2-1) had 26 turnovers and made only 17 of 64 shots. Chante
Black had 12 points and 13 rebounds, and Jasmine Thomas scored 12.
“We completely outplayed them in the last five minutes but didn’t
do anything in the first 35 minutes,” Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie
said. “It’s a great lesson for us. Either decide to show up and play
for 40 minutes or anything is possible. Certainly this game proved
that.”
Hartford has won 25 games or more and taken the American East
regular-season title the last three years.
Schaefer split a pair of free throws with 6.5 seconds left before
Black missed a layup at the buzzer.
“It’s definitely a big confidence booster for us,” Schaefer said.
“We knew that for us to take strides as a program, this game was a
great opportunity for us. So we just really came out with a mentality
that we deserve to be on this floor with them and we deserve to win.”
Schaefer hit two free throws with 24.8 seconds left to give
Hartford a 52-48 lead. After Etienne missed a pair of free throws,
Abby Waner hit a 3-pointer to cut the Hawks’ lead to 52-51 with 17.6
seconds remaining.
Erica Beverly found Schaefer on a back-door layup to give
Hartford a 50-46 lead with 1:04 remaining. Waner answered with a
jumper to get Duke within two with 46.6 seconds remaining.
Duke used a 9-2 run to cut the lead to 48-46 with 2:06 left.
Hartford led the entire first half as Duke struggled on offense.
The Blue Devils made just 6 of 24 shots while losing the ball 18
times in the first half.
Hartford led 22-17 at halftime after jumping out to a 16-6 lead.
The Blue Devils scored nine straight points but Hartford responded
with a 6-0 run.
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