Aggies come back to beat No. 8 Duke at home, 63-59

Gary Blair’s seventh-ranked Aggies were as unpredictable and sudden as Texas weather in November on Sunday afternoon.

They were numbingly cold and facing a 15-point deficit after nearly 30 minutes. But they rode a sudden hot streak to a 63-59 women’s basketball victory over No. 8 Duke before 6,123 at Reed Arena.

The Aggies (7-0) shot 67 percent from the field and held Duke (5-1) to 28 percent in the final 11:30 to stage the remarkable comeback. They took a 59-55 lead on Jordan Jones’ 15-footer with 2:14 remaining and played suffocating defense in the final two minutes to protect the margin and close out the victory.

Blair said the Aggies never panicked despite the large deficit because of excellent guard play and previous stern challenges against DePaul, New Mexico and Texas-Pan American.

“We went through that at DePaul. We went through that in almost losing to Pan Am and we went through it against New Mexico,” Blair said. “You don’t panic when you have Jordan Jones and the two CWs (Courtney Walker and Courtney Williams) out there.

“I recruit kids that can handle the pressure and from good programs that know what winning’s all about. We don’t panic. Each one of those gray hairs I have is from experience.”

Jones said there was no reason to panic.

“When you’re looking at the clock, we don’t see the score,” she said. “We just see the time left. The coaches did a good job telling us we still have 13 minutes in the game to pull it out.”

Williams scored 21 points and Walker had 19 to lead the Aggies, while Jones had 12 points and eight assists without committing a turnover.

Duke was led by redshirt freshman Rebecca Greenwell with 23 points and 6-5 freshman Azura Stevens with 15.

However, the Blue Devils were without All-American senior forward Elizabeth Williams, who is averaging 14 points and nine rebounds. She was sidelined with a foot injury.

In the early going it appeared the Blue Devils wouldn’t need her.

Taking advantage of their superior size and Greenwell’s ability to shoot from the perimeter or penetrate for layups, the Blue Devils dominated play early. Duke scored 16 points in the paint and had eight points on second chances in the first half to take a 33-21 lead at halftime.

That lead swelled to 45-30 as Greenwell closed a 10-2 run by hitting two free throws with 11:36 remaining.

Yet, despite all that Duke accomplished, Blair felt the Aggies’ struggles stemmed from their tendency to take three-point shots rather than work the ball inside.

The Aggies missed their first nine three-point attempts.

“When we were down 24-21 I told the girls that unless they pressure and play fast and ugly it will be a slow death out there,” Blair said. “That’s what it was becoming. When we were down 15 we started hitting shots. What we wanted to do is not shoot the three-ball early. That’s exactly what Duke wanted us to do. It was one-and-out and one-and-out.”

He later added: “I told them we could drive the baseline all night. We quit doing it. We started settling.”

Walker agreed with that appraisal.

“We were following the plan of where we were going to get our shots, me in particularly being a smaller guard,” she said. “We were attacking the rim and post players when they come out instead of settling for jump shots.”

That also led to frequent trips to the free throw line where A&M converted 10 of 13 in the second half.

On the other hand, the Aggies forced nine second half turnovers that were turned into 13 points.

As the Aggies rallied the crowd became more raucous. The crowd erupted when Williams hit a layup with 5:09 left. It was frenzied when Walker hit a three-pointer for a 55-53 lead with 4:24 to play.

“What’s awfully great about basketball is how the crowd senses it’s part of the game,” Blair said. “The crowd was getting up. The gray-hairs, no-hairs and school children were into it and showed basketball knowledge. This is what top-10 basketball is all about.”

Greenwell indicated the Blue Devils were affected by the crowd.

“Once they started coming back and the crowd got into it, we got wired up,” she said. “We needed to maintain our composure. Overall, in the second half we were not ready to go.”

Duke coach Joanne McCallie said the Blue Devils were not ready for the physical style of play the officials allowed.

“This was a facade,” she said. “We went from a game (against Stony Brook) where if you blew on somebody it was a foul; we just played a game where you get run over and it’s not a call. It’s not called consistently. I think it’s a joke.”

Blair maintained that the Aggies just adjusted better to the officiating.

“Let’s just give us credit for what we did,” he said. “We went after the ball and made some things happen. I’m not commenting on her venting. That’s not my job. My job is to comment on what we do.

“We’re going to play hard and adjust to the officiating.”

It’s much like the way Texans adjust to the weather.