No. 2 Duke 69, Virginia Tech 56

3/4/2006 12:05 AM

By AARON BEARD
AP Sports Writer

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) - Second-ranked Duke suddenly has a problem with turnovers, and the Blue Devils will have to fix it fast if they want to have a memorable postseason.

Monique Currie scored 13 points to help the Blue Devils overcome a season-high 31 turnovers in a 69-56 win over Virginia Tech in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament on Friday night. The Blue Devils reached the semifinals for the 12th straight year.

Mistie Williams added 11 points for Duke (26-2), which will face fourth-ranked Maryland in the semifinals Saturday.

The Blue Devils, who won five straight tournament titles before falling to North Carolina in last year's final, have won 18 of their last 19 tournament games. They also improved to 20-1 in school history at the Greensboro Coliseum, where they won two NCAA tournament games to reach the Final Four in 1999.

They added to those impressive totals despite matching their worst tourney turnover total in program history, which was set against Clemson in 1979. And it marked the sixth time in eight games that the Blue Devils have had at least 20 turnovers, a disturbing late-season trend for coach Gail Goestenkors.

``I'm not quite sure why we're turning the ball over more now,'' said Goestenkors, whose squad cracked the 20-turnover mark just three times in its first 20 games. ``We're not seeing any greater pressure than we've seen all year long. I think we're not quite as focused as we need to be, and we're not making great decisions with the basketball.''

Duke's previous season-high was 26 turnovers in a double-overtime win at Miami on Feb. 19, and the Blue Devils had 23 in last week's 77-65 loss to the Tar Heels to close the regular season.

On Friday, the turnovers came in a multitude of ways, from players getting stripped on drives to the basket to bad passes that sailed straight out of bounds.

``We just weren't being very smart with the ball,'' Currie said. ``Virginia Tech made us rush a lot, and we fell into where we were taking quick shots and not running through our offense. We were kinda out of sorts throughout the game. Everyone was. A lot of people were anxious and trying to do too much instead of letting the offense come to them.''

Not that the Hokies (20-9) could take advantage. Duke shot 54 percent and its defense was good enough to keep Virginia Tech staring at double-digit deficits almost the entire second half.

Virginia Tech shot 38 percent, including 2-for-10 from 3-point range, and never seriously threatened the Blue Devils after trailing by four points early after the break. The Hokies scored 23 points off turnovers, but committed 27 themselves to negate their advantage.

``We were forcing turnovers, but we've got to knock down some easy shots,'' Virginia Tech coach Beth Dunkenberger said. ``We shot 38 percent, which isn't terrible, but we had an awful lot of layups especially early on that would've given us a little bit more confidence and maybe gotten them a little more jittery early on.''

Currie played just 9 minutes in the first half after picking up two fouls, but she didn't need a big game. She shot 6-for-9 from the field and scored her 2,000th career point. Williams went 4-for-5 and Alison Bales added 10 points.

Duke led 34-28 before scoring eight straight points to seize control. Bales started the run with a pair of free throws, and Williams followed with a short hook in the lane. Currie closed the run with consecutive baskets, scoring off a feed from Lindsey Harding and sticking back a Williams miss to make it 42-28 with 13:05 left.

The Hokies got no closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

Dawn Chriss and Carrie Mason each scored 13 points to lead the Hokies.