ORONO, Maine — During their four years together at the University of Maine, coach Joanne Palombo-McCallie and Cindy Blodgett created plenty of magic at Alfond Arena.
Albeit under different circumstances, their chemistry helped produced a similar atmosphere in the building Monday night.
Alfond Arena was electric as an appreciative crowd of 3,717 turned out to watch McCallie’s Duke University team take on Blodgett’s Black Bears. McCallie’s eighth-ranked Blue Devils stole the show with a convincing 75-34 women’s basketball victory.
“It was a great atmosphere,” McCallie said. “It’s great to see people out and so supportive and so gracious. Cindy and her team, what a marvelous job they did being nice to me personally. I was very honored by them.”
It was the largest basketball crowd at UMaine since 3,784 fans watched the Bears face Vermont in 2004, but Blodgett said she doesn’t spend much time reliving the past with her current players.
“I want us to create our own special times together and that’s what we’re building toward,” Blodgett said, but “it’s a pretty exciting place to play and I’m thrilled that we got an opportunity, all of these players, to experience that.”
Duke won last year’s meeting, at Durham, N.C., by a 98-31 score.
McCallie, a former Brunswick High School Parade All-American, was honored by UMaine during a pregame ceremony. Athletic director Blake James presented McCallie with her University of Maine Sports Hall of Fame plaque and certificate, while Blodgett gave her mentor a bouquet of blue and white carnations.
McCallie was inducted last fall but was unable to attend the ceremony in Orono. She then was immortalized with other Black Bear basketball greats as a new banner bearing her name was unfurled from the rafters.
She joins Blodgett, Emily Ellis, Rachel Bouchard, Liz Coffin, Heather Ernest and Jamie Cassidy among the UMaine women’s basketball players who have had their jersey numbers retired.
The magnitude of the moment wasn’t lost on the UMaine players.
“We all thought it was a really great moment for coach Blodgett and coach Palombo,” said Bears sophomore Samantha Wheeler. “It just shows the kind of passion that both of them had as a coach and as a player, now both as coaches, and the tradition that they have here and their careers and the impact they’ve had on so many people. It’s just great that all of us got to witness that today.”
Once the game started, Duke showcased its superior talent, quickness, strength and depth. The Blue Devils (9-2), the first ranked team to play at Alfond Arena since Georgia in 1999, unleashed a combination of full-court and half-court presses that wore down UMaine.
The Bears (2-7) committed a season-high 34 turnovers that Duke converted directly into 35 points. The visitors outscored UMaine 40-14 in the paint and had 21 second-chance points courtesy of 20 offensive rebounds.
“We’re a pressure team,” McCallie said. “We’re an athletic team, as you can see, and we want to use every asset that we have.
“We had some good things happen for us with that pressure.”
Duke dominated the rebounding 46-22 and wound up shooting 53 percent (31-for-59) from the floor, including 60 percent in the first half. Jasmine Thomas made eight of the Blue Devils’ 25 steals and Karima Christmas added six.
Christmas (seven rebounds) and Bridgette Mitchell paced Duke with 16 points each, while Joy Cheek provided 14 points and seven rebounds. Thomas handed out eight assists.
Sophomore guard Brittany Williams led UMaine with seven points and two steals. Wheeler contributed six points and six rebounds, while Tewksbury and Kristin Baker of Bingham added six points each.
Blodgett hopes the example of Duke’s effort and intensity as it pertains to the Blue Devils’ position near the top of Division I women’s basketball will wear off on her players.
“We’re aspiring to win championships,” Blodgett said. “We’re not at that point yet, we recognize it. Duke is.
“I think the impact of having them feel a championship team who’s up by 40, still competing, still diving for loose balls, I think that’s going to have a major impact on our team.”
The scrappy Bears were still in contention at 37-24 after scoring the first two baskets of the second half, but a persistent Duke squad rattled off 17 unanswered points during a span of six minutes to build a 30-point advantage (54-24) with 12:41 to play.
UMaine seemed to come unraveled in the second half during which it committed 20 of its 34 turnovers. And the Bears were unable to establish any offensive continuity while battling the press and Duke’s aggressive half-court defense.
“Especially in the second half, when we hesitated and dribbled a lot, we didn’t move the ball as quickly, that’s when we got into trouble,” said UMaine senior Amanda Tewksbury. “Credit to their defense.”
Duke’s decisive run came after Tewksbury hit an 18-foot jumper and Jasmine Rush threw in an 8-foot runner. The Blue Devils then took command, with Cheek scoring three times during a surge that fed off five UMaine turnovers.
The Bears wound up going more than eight minutes without scoring and could not recover.
The Blue Devils held a comfortable 37-20 lead at intermission. Duke was plagued by 15 turnovers, but shot 60 percent (15-for-25) from the field and outrebounded the Bears 24-15 to make up some of the difference.
UMaine struggled mightily in the face of Duke’s 2-2-1 full-court press, which forced several of the Bears’ 14 first-half turnovers.
The Blue Devils outscored the Bears 22-10 in the paint and converted UMaine turnovers in to 17 points. Duke also took advantage of its overall quickness to register 10 fast-break points.