AP News, February 6th, 2007
Alison Bales scored 15 of her season-high 21 points in the first half and No. 1 Duke routed Clemson 105-53 on Monday night to remain perfect entering its showdown with No. 2 North Carolina.
Carrem Gay scored 18 points and Abby Waner had 16 for the Blue Devils (24-0, 9-0 Atlantic Coast Conference), who matched the Tar Heels' spotless record. The Tobacco Road rivals play Thursday in Chapel Hill in a meeting of the last two remaining unbeatens.
Wanisha Smith added 13 points for Duke, which shot 52 percent against one of the nation's worst defenses, held a 51-23 rebounding advantage, surpassed the 100-point mark for the second time and clearly refused to look past the struggling Tigers (10-13, 2-6).
D'Lesha Lloyd scored 14 points and Christy Brown added 12 to lead Clemson, which didn't get closer than 22 points in the second half and committed 20 turnovers against one of the nation's top two defenses.
Duke won its 10th straight in the series and no previous Blue Devils team has ever scored more points against Clemson.
Bales, who entered as a 72 percent free-throw shooter for her career, tied a school record by finishing 13-of-13 from the foul line. She joined nine other players in school history, most recently Monique Currie, who were perfect in at least 10 attempts.
She surpassed her previous season best of 18 points set in the win over Maryland which catapulted the Blue Devils into the top spot, and fell one point shy of her career-best 22 set against Southern California in the second round of last season's NCAA tournament.
The 6-foot-7 Bales took advantage of the smaller Tigers' knack for fouling early in this one. She drew two fouls in 3 minutes on Clemson center Moreemi Davis, who then spent most of the half on the bench, leaving Bales free to dominate the low post.
Bales _ at least 3 inches taller than any Clemson player _ entered as the nation's leader in blocked shots, averaging 4.7 blocks, and she swatted away three attempts by the Tigers. She also had a perfect first half, hitting all three of her shots, making nine free throws without a miss and committing no turnovers.
Duke led comfortably for all but a 4-minute stretch, and the Blue Devils took absolute command with a 19-2 burst late in the first half. The punishing 5 1/2-minute stretch ended when Waner's 3-pointer from the left corner made it 48-25 with 2:03 left.
The Blue Devils scored a season-high 54 points in the opening 20 minutes.
