Women's Hoops Guru

By Mel Greenberg

DURHAM, N.C. - In one sense Tuesday night's 56-52 upset of No. 8 Duke over No. 3 Stanford at Cameron Indoor Stadium was simply one of those early season games in which two national powers gets to test themselves against each other.

Learn something and move on to the next battle to get ready for conference play.

While the rugged physicality of the contest was not to the likes of Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer, Bue Devils coach Joanne P. McCallie said the style of play was helpful with an eye to the NCAA tournament.

"I like it because that is what March and April is," she said. "That was a March-April game in December. That's the road of it. There are less calls and more attempts to have players determine the game. And I felt this was very similar to that."

It also is a game that will be mentioned much later not because of anything classic, though McCallie referred to it as a "heavyweight fight," that Duke tried to transform into more of a "lightweight" encounter.

But come deliberation time in terms of the pecking order for the NCAA tournament field, this was one both teams needed in their resume, especially Duke.

"No question, this is a big game," Duke senior associate athletic director Jacki Silar said earlier in the day.

She should know because she has been promoted to chair this year's NCAA Women's Basketball Committee.

In Stanford's situation, a win, if obtained against Duke (7-1) Tuesday night, and a win at Tennessee on Sunday would have pretty much put the Cardinal (7-2) well on the way to a No. 1 seed barring some unforeseen disruption in the Pac-10 conference.

But the Blue Devils win brings Stanford back to the pack of a large number of candidates of which, for now, Duke becomes part of the mix.

The Blue Devils will have opportunities to gain more notoriety in the Atlantic Coast Conference next month but just ahead is a weekend trip to the West Coast to meet Southern Cal.

Incidentally, McCallie now becomes a part of trivia in having a perfect 3-0 record against the Cardinal while employed at three different schools. Her Maine team upset Stanford in the 1999 tournament, 60-58, and her Michigan State team also pulled an upset, beating the Cardinal 76-69 in an NCAA regional semifinal on the way to the meeting Baylor in the 2005 championship contest.

As for Tuesday's action, the momentum swung in spurts throughout until the Blue Devils were able to make a few big plays down the stretch to win.

"We didn't really give ourselves a chance," VanDerveer said. "If you can't make layups and free throws, I think you're going to be in for a long night. So compliments to Duke and I'm really disappointed in what we did."

Stanford shot 12-for-27 from the line and 38.3 percent from the field. Duke was 17-of-22 on foul shot opportunities and shot 30.5 percent.

For the second time in less than a week a player with the last night Christmas figured appropriate for this time of year in their respective team's upset.

Back in Philadelphia last weekend Dionte Christmas starred in the Temple men's upset of Tennessee.

Down here, Duke sophomore Karima Christmas -- no relation -- had a career night with 14 points and nine rebounds. She also made her first three-pointers, shooting 2-for-2 from beyond the arc.

Chante Black also scored 14 points with 10 occurring in the second half.

Stanford's Jayne Appel scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds while Jeanette Pohlen scored 13 points, including connecting on 4-of-8 three point attempts.

But Kayla Pedersen was 2-for-10 from the field, although Duke senior Abby Waner struggled on a 3-for-12 effort with all six points occuring in the first half.

Incidentally, Temple will visit down here on January 5 before the Owls begin play in the Atlantic Ten.

-- Mel