No. 9 Duke 64, Temple 53

11/23/2007 9:41 PM

By MICHAEL MELIA
Associated Press Writer

CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) -Carrem Gay was the latest Duke player to step up and show future opponents how hard it will be to deal with the Blue Devils' depth.

Gay led three players in double figures and No. 9 Duke beat Temple 64-53 on Friday night at the Paradise Jam.

Gay tallied her first double-double of the season with 13 points and 12 rebounds for the Blue Devils (5-0), set to play second-ranked Connecticut on Sunday in the championship game. Connecticut beat Old Dominion 86-43.

``We've had so many people step in these games. The scouting report might not be that effective,'' Duke coach Joanne McCallie said.

Duke got 13 points from Chante Black and 11 from Jasmine Thomas, who led the Blue Devils the night before in a 53-41 win over No. 22 Purdue

Duke took a 28-19 lead on a 10-0 scoring run, capped by Thomas' jumpshot with 1:40 to play in the first half. The Blue Devils led 32-23 at halftime.

``We pretty much tightened up our offense and were able to finish it out,'' said Black, who scored all of her points in the second half and also blocked two shots.

Temple rallied to tie the game at 38 on a pair of free throws by Lady Comfort with 14:19 to play but never regained the lead.

Dawnnae Roberts hit a 3-pointer for Temple (1-3) to cut the deficit to 55-51 with 2:56, but they did not get any closer.

Duke shot 48 percent from the floor and dished 14 assists. They also held Temple to 33 percent shooting. But the Blue Devils also got outrebounded for the first time in the season - 42 to 41 - and went 7-for-20 from the free-throw line.

McCallie, who credited the victory to good decisions by her players down the stretch, said both recent wins showed plenty of room for improvement.

``No matter who we play, we need to have a certain aggressiveness, and getting outrebounded is not something we can get in the habit of.''

Duke had 16 points on fast breaks, compared with four for temple, and also tallied six blocks.

Gay said the Blue Devils' defense helped to spark their scoring runs.

``Our defense helps our offense a lot. It's a domino effect for us,'' she said.

Comfort led Temple with 15 points and 10 rebounds. LaKeisha Eaddy scored 11 points and Shenita Landry added 10.

Duke scored 16 points off six Temple turnovers.

Temple shot 33 percent, including 3-for-11 from behind the arc.