by Rob Clough
Duke defeated #7 LSU 56-45 to win the Women's Sports Foundation tournament
title. The Tigers were missing starting center DeTrina White to injury but
still had three starters back from last year's Elite Eight team. They
got there by knocking Duke out of the tournament with some hot shooting.
This team, neither team shot well, with the Tigers only hitting 2-12 from
three and the Devils 2-15, but frosh dynamo Alana Beard scored 20 points
to offset senior All-America Marie Ferdinand's 22. Beard has a tendency
to score in spurts, getting 5 in the first half to put Duke up for good,
and then 7 more late in the half to give Duke a 23-17 lead. Alana was
voted MVP of the tournament after averaging 18 points a game.
Duke outrebounded the smaller Tigers, with everyone in the starting
five notching at least 5 boards apiece. Duke's guards struggled from the
field, with Mosch, Schweitzer and West combining to shoot 4-21. Michele
Matyasovsky came off the bench to score 6 points and block 2 shots. She
wound up playing a lot in the post.
The Devils cut their turnovers to 13 and won the game at the foul line,
going 16-20, with Beard getting 8-10.
The Devils next play on the 18th in Cameron against William & Mary,
where the 2000 ACC Championship banner will be raised.