March 9, 2003
By JENNA FRYER
AP Sports Writer
GREENSBORO, N.C. – No. 2 Duke had the game well in hand and Sheana Mosch was still throwing her body all over the court. She crashed into the scoring table, she fell into the opposing bench.
When the final buzzer sounded Sunday, top-seeded Duke had beaten Georgia Tech 76-52 in the semifinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament and Mosch knew where that placed her.
“I’m the winningest,” the senior guard said with a smile.
Indeed, she is.
Mosch scored 16 points to move Duke (30-1) closer to its fourth consecutive ACC tournament title and became the winningest player in league history with 119 victories.
“I’d have to say that most of all, I am very blessed to have a healthy body – I’ve probably missed two practices in my entire life,” said Mosch, who has played in 133 consecutive games. “And I’m blessed to be part of such a good team that just keeps on winning.”
The Blue Devils haven’t lost an ACC game since Feb. 18, 2001, a streak of 42 straight wins. They go for one more in Monday night’s tournament final, where they’ll try to match the Duke men from 1999-2002 as the only team in league history to win four straight titles.
Iciss Tillis had 15 points and nine rebounds and Alana Beard added 11 points for the Blue Devils, who beat fifth-seeded Georgia Tech for the 21st consecutive time.
Duke is now 42-7 lifetime against the Yellow Jackets (20-10).
“They are without a doubt, an excellent, excellent team and worthy of being No. 2 in the nation,” Georgia Tech coach Agnus Berenato said. “I just told my team that only Connecticut is better, and it took Connecticut 40 minutes to beat them. Duke only had to play 20 minutes against us.”
The Blue Devils, who won both regular-season meetings against Georgia Tech by a combined 59 points, were once again superior.
Duke led 39-21 at the half and was just getting warmed up.
The Blue Devils were stifling at the start of the second half, holding Georgia Tech to just one free throw for the first seven minutes.
“We really set the tone with our defense,” Duke coach Gail Goestenkors said. “We were just really focused on both ends of the floor and our defense really made things happen for us.”
Duke caused the Yellow Jackets to miss their first six shots of the second half, forced five turnovers and basically laughed at Georgia Tech during the span.
When Mallorie Winn picked up her fourth foul on a charge on Beard, Duke’s star ran over to her teammates laughing as she and Tillis slapped hands.
Moments later, Alex Stewart grabbed a rare Georgia Tech offensive rebound and passed to Jessica Williams. But Williams lost the ball, Beard grabbed it and pushed it upcourt for a Tillis layup that made it 50-22.
Georgia Tech finally ended its scoring drought on the next possession, scoring on Stewart’s layup with 14:34 to play, but it only cut Duke’s lead to 50-24.
Fallon Stokes led Georgia Tech with 14 points on 6-of-15 shooting. But the Yellow Jackets shot 31 percent for the game, had 23 turnovers and just three assists.
“I would have liked Fallon to hit her shots,” Berenato said. “If she had hit her shots, it would have been a different game.”
