First of all, congratulations to Vicki Krapohl and her engineering
partner Ben Yaffe, whose robot "Alana Beard" was second runner-up at the
March Mayhem competition. Thirty-five engineering
students competed in a contest to design a robot that would put ping-pong
balls into mini-basketball hoops. Despite having to miss the actual
contest in order to help dispatch NC State, her 'bot did quite well. The
robot features a photo of Alana in its center and a Ford sticker--which
only makes sense since her father owns a car dealership.
Second, check out this guest diary entry from Monique Currie, who wrote about her 21st birthday party.
Coach G and Caitlin also had recent birthdays, though Mo discreetly notes
that Coach G just turned, ahem, 31. The team arranged a surprise party
for her, and despite some of the surprise being telegraphed like a bad
pass, the end result was still great. Monique wears #25 because it's her
birthday, by the by.
Third, now that the regular season is over, let's take a look at some
stats. Alana Beard led the ACC in scoring at 20.8 ppg. Monique Currie
and Iciss Tillis were 12th and 13th at 11.9 and 11.8 ppg, while Mistie
Bass was 18th at 10.3 ppg. Brittany Hunter was #30 with 8.7 ppg. The
Tillis-Currie-Bass frontcourt finished 5th, 7th and 15th in the ACC in
rebounding (getting 6.5, 6.3 and 5.6 rpg, respectively. Bass led the
league in FG% with an amazing 62%, a figure that is even more impressive
when you consider that she also extended her shooting range this year.
Hunter was #2 at 58%, Beard #6 with 52% and Currie #14 at 47%. Tillis led
the league in FT%, making 86% of her gimmes. Beard was 5th at 78% and
Currie 12th with 74%. Vicki Krapohl was #2 in the ACC in three point
shooting, sinking 43% of her shots. Impressively, Beard improved her
long-range accuracy to the tune of 38%, good for 5th best in the league
and ahead of many "purer" shooters. Jess Foley chimed in at 12th with
33%. In the category of threes made per game, Krapohl was #4 with 1.8
while Beard & Foley both had 1.2, good for 12th place.
Lindsey Harding was third in the ACC in assists with 4.9 apg. Beard
was #5, dropping 3.9 apg and Currie #12 at 3.2. Harding and Beard were
1-2 in assist/turnover ratio, with Lindsey posting a 2.16:1 figure and
Alana a 1.9:1 score. Currie was 7th with 1.3:1. Beard & Chicken Bone
Stokes tied for the lead in steals, with Alana getting 2.4 spg. Harding
was #7 with 1.9 spg, Tillis was at #8 with a hair less, while Currie was
#11 thanks to 1.6 pilfers a contest. Duke's block committee dominated
that list: Hunter #3 (1.43 bpg), Beard #5 (1.3), Tillis #7 (1.3), Bass #9
(1.1), Currie #13 (.8). Bass wound up as the #4 offensive rebounder (2.7)
and Currie was #7 (2.5).
As a team, Duke led the ACC in every category except FG% defense (where
they were #2), 3FG defense (#2), three point percentage (#2), rebounding
offense (#2) and defensive rebounds (#2). In short, it's been a pretty
good year, and there's more to come. Duke plays the winner of Georgia
Tech and Wake Forest Saturday at noon. The game will be televised on Fox
Sports Net.
As to the future, Chante' Black's East Forsyth squad defeated Charlotte Vance 58-40 on
Monday night. Black had 27 points, 19 rebounds and 6 blocks as East won
the 4-A section 2 title. Her team will move on to the Western Regionals
in Winston-Salem on Thursday night.