#7/8 Duke (8-2) at Maine (2-6)
Monday, Dec. 21, 2009 • 7:00 PM • Orono, Maine • Alfond Arena (4,500)
Media Information
Tip-off: 7:00 PM
Live Video: www.GoDuke.com
Radio: Duke ISP Network - 620 The Buzz with Steve Barnes (PBP), Morgan Patrick (Color)
Twitter: DukeWBBSID & CoachPDuke
Facebook: Official Duke Women's Basketball Group
Rankings: Duke (No. 7 - AP, No. 8 - ESPN/USA Today)
Series: Duke leads 1-0
Head Coaches: Duke: Joanne P. McCallie (376-166, 18th Season)
Maine: Cindy Blodgett (14-54, 3rd Year)
McCallie Set to Return to Home State; Will Face Black Bears For First Time at Maine...
Duke Women's Basketball Head Coach Joanne P. McCallie will return to her home state of Maine as the seventh-ranked Blue Devils (8-2) will take on the Maine Black Bears (2-6) on Monday, Dec. 21 at 7:00 p.m. The contest will be played at Alfond Arena in Orono, Maine.
Fans can also hear the Blue Devils on the Duke ISP Radio Network on WDNC AM 620 with Steve Barnes (PXP) and Morgan Patrick (Color) calling the action. McCallie, who spent eight years as the head coach at Maine, recruited and coached Black Bears Head Coach Cindy Blodgett. Blodgett is in her third year as the head coach at Maine and is the only former player of McCallie who is now a head coach.
The Blue Devils are currently ranked No. 7 in the Associated Press and No. 8 in the ESPN/USA Today Division I Coaches Polls, while Maine is unranked.
Noting Duke...
Senior Joy Cheek moved past the 900-point mark against JMU and now owns 903 for her career ... Keturah Jackson played in her 100th career game against James Madison ... Jackson also hit her first three-pointer of the year against JMU ... sophomore Kathleen Scheer broke a streak of eight straight missed three-pointers against JMU as she hit her first attempt ... the Blue Devils hold a 360-146 points in the paint advantage on the year.
A Look At Maine...
Maine enters Monday with a 2-6 overall record under the direction of Head Coach Cindy Blodgett. Samantha Wheeler (10.1 points, 5.3 rebounds), Kristin Baker (10.1 points, 3.6 rebounds) and Aman Tewksbury (9.0 points, 7.1 rebounds) lead the Black Bears. So far on the year, Maine is 2-2 at home with victories over CCSU (61-58) and Buffalo (58-53).
The Series With Maine...
Duke and Maine will meet for the second time in school history. The two squads faced off last year in Durham, N.C., with the Blue Devils posting a 98-31 victory. In the game, Krystal Thomas registered a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Joy Cheek added 10 points and Chante Black tossed in 16 points.
Duke Versus the America East Conference...
The Blue Devils own a record of 4-1 against teams from the America East Conference -- Boston U. (2-0), Hartford (0-1), Maine (1-0) and New Hampshire (1-0).
Reunion Set For Monday...
Duke Head Coach Joanne P. McCallie will go up against her former team -- Maine -- on Monday, Dec. 21. McCallie spent her first eight years as a head coach at Maine and guided the Black Bears to a 167-73 record, six NCAA Tournaments, two America East Tournament and two North Atlantic Championships from 1992-2000.
Coach P will also go up against her former player, Cindy Blodgett, who is in her third year as the head coach at Maine. Blodgett was a four-year letterwinner at Maine under McCallie. Blodgett led the NCAA in scoring as a sophomore and junior at Maine under Coach P.
McCallie is expected to have at least 65 family and friends in attendance at the game as she has parents and siblings who currently live in Maine.
Coach P was also inducted into the Maine Sports Hall of Fame in June of 2008 and the University of Maine Athletics Hall of Fame in October of 2009. McCallie attended Brunswick H.S., in Maine and graduated in 1983.
Storylines/Other Blue Devil Notes...
- Karima Christmas played against Maine's Jasmine Rush, who is from Houston, Texas (St. Pius X H.S.), in AAU and high school.
- Duke has gone up against seven teams who were undefeated going into the contest with the Blue Devils this season -- Ohio State (8-0), James Madison (7-0), Stanford (7-0), Western Kentucky (3-0), Georgia Southern (1-0), Houston Baptist (0-0) and Texas A&M (0-0).
- Jasmine Thomas had a streak of 20 straight made free throws come to an end against James Madison.
- Over her 18 years as a head coach, Joanne P. McCallie owns a record of 1-0 all-time against Maine.
- Against teams from the America East Conference, Coach P owns an all-time record of 59-19 -- Boston U. (14-4), Hartford (15-4), Maine (1-0), New Hampshire (14-3) and Vermont (15-8).
- Junior Jasmine Thomas has hit 20 three-pointers in only 10 games this season. As a freshman, she hit 24 in 35 games and as a sophomore she hit 28 in 30 games.
- Duke has won 34 straight home games in the month of December. The last loss came on Dec. 20, 1997 against UCLA, 93-83.
- Duke has registered 33 wins out of its last 34 games at home against non-conference foes. Over the last eight years, the Blue Devils have posted a 60-4 overall record against non-conference opponents in Cameron Indoor Stadium. The losses came against Tennessee (2), Connecticut and South Carolina.
- Junior Krystal Thomas has moved into ninth place on Duke's all-time blocked shots list with 87. She is nine shots shy of eighth place all-time on the Blue Devil charts.
- In three years at Duke, Head Coach Joanne P. McCallie has notched four victories against top-five ranked teams -- #3/3 Ohio State in 2009-10, #3/4 Stanford in 2008-09, while knocking off #4/3 Rutgers and #5/4 Maryland in 2007-08.
- The Coach P Radio Show will next take place on Tuesday, Jan. 5 at 6:00 p.m. The show will be stationed at Satisfaction Restaurant in Durham at Brightleaf Square. Make sure you get there early to secure a seat.
• Follow DukeWBBSID on and CoachPDuke on Twitter to get the latest updates on Duke women's basketball. Also, join the "Official Duke Women's Basketball Group" on Facebook to get the latest video, pictures and more. Join both now as they are free! You can win free prizes each week on both Twitter and Facebook so make sure you follow closely.
What Happened Last Time...
Duke Head Coach Joanne P. McCallie helped her current star reach a milestone.
Chante Black scored 16 points and reached 1,000 for her career in the eighth-ranked Blue Devils' 98-31 rout of Maine on Nov. 16, 2008.
Krystal Thomas had 13 points and 10 rebounds and Joy Cheek added 10 points. Duke shot nearly 48 percent while holding Maine to 26 percent shooting in helping McCallie beat the Maine program she led to six NCAA tournaments in eight seasons from 1992-2000.
Maine had more turnovers (38) than points. Duke turned those miscues into 44 points, held a 56-17 rebounding advantage, limited the Black Bears to one field goal over the first 12 minutes and held them to single digits until the final minute of the first half.
Black became the 24th player in Duke history to reach the 1,000-point mark with her basket in the post roughly four minutes in. She had her way with Maine's undersized lineup.
Maine, which didn't have a player taller than 6-3 on the roster, had no answers for the 6-5 Black or the 6-4 Thomas, who helped the Blue Devils outscore the Black Bears 50-14 in the paint.
Cheek Catches Fire...
Senior Joy Cheek caught fire against 24th-ranked James Madison on Friday as she totaled a career-high 21 points, had seven rebounds, one steal and one assist in only 25 minutes.
Cheek has registered double-figure scoring in six contests, while four of those six games have been played at home.
Over the last four games, Cheek has hit 3-of-5 from downtown.
Christmas Makes Third Start...
After coming off the bench and registering double-digit scoring in three straight games, junior Karima Christmas was rewarded with the start against 24th-ranked James Madison.
In the game, Christmas scored seven points, pulled down eight rebounds, two assists and one steal in 25 minutes.
Christmas made her third start of the season and fifth of her career. She is averaging 7.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 2.5 steals on the year.
