2001–02Duke Blue Devils women's basketball
ACC Regular season champions ACC tournament champions
NCAA tournament,Final Four
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 4
AP	No. 3
Record	31–4 (16–0 ACC)
Head coach	Gail Goestenkors (10th season)
Assistant coaches	Gale Valley (13th season) Joanne Boyle (9th season) Georgia Schweitzer (1st season)
Home arena	Cameron Indoor Stadium
Seasons ← 2000–01 2002–03 →

The2001–02 Duke Blue Devils women's basketball team representedDuke University during the 2001–02 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The team was led by head coachGail Goestenkors in her 10th season at the school, and played its home games atCameron Indoor Stadium inDurham, North Carolina as members of theAtlantic Coast Conference. They finished the season 31–4, 16–0 in ACC play to win the regular season conference title by five games. They followed that success by winning theACC tournament to receive the conference's automatic bid to theNCAA tournament. Playing as No. 1 seed in the East region, the Blue Devils defeated Norfolk State, TCU, Texas, and South Carolina to reach the Final Four. In the National semifinal round, the Blue Devils were defeated by the No. 1 seed from the West region, Oklahoma, 86–71.

The Blue Devils started the season with 10 players and a very young team with only one senior, two juniors, five sophomores and two freshmen.Duke opened with a bang, knocking off seventh rankedTexas Tech in the State Farm Tip-Off Classic, but then went through some growing pains. On the road for the first time, the No. 5 Blue Devils were stunned by unrankedMAC opponentToledo, 67–71. The ladies returned home for the annual Duke Women's Basketball Classic, where they opened with a blowout victory overDavidson, but then stumbled against another unranked opponent inSouth Carolina, falling in overtime in the title game, 81–87. The loss broke the Blue Devils 9-year title streak in the Duke Women's Basketball Classic, and also wound up being the only loss at home all season. To make matters worse, on November 28th, 9th-year assistant coachJoanne Boyle was stricken with anarteriovenous malformation, an affliction that kept her in the hospital for 2 weeks.^[1][2]

Following a victory over No. 6Louisiana Tech, the Blue Devils were dealt another setback when sophomores Rometra Craig and Crystal White decided to transfer right before the team left for its first ACC contest of the year atVirginia.^[3] Down two players and an assistant coach, the Blue Devils faced an uphill battle with only eight players. The Blue Devils responded by defeating Virginia in a 34-point drubbing, 107–73, then proceeded to make light work ofGeorgetown,UNC Greensboro, andLiberty, winning every game by 30-plus points. Coach Goestenkors became the all time winningest coach in school history following the win over UNC Greensboro, her 214th victory as the head women's basketball coach for Duke.^[4] Heading into Christmas break, the ladies carried a six-game winning streak. Following Christmas break, Duke's streak came to a screeching halt, as No. 2Tennessee hobbled the Blue Devils in the ACC/SEC Shootout, 68–89.^[5] With the defeat, Duke entered conference play proper with a 9–3 (1–0, ACC) record.

Duke dominated ACC play, winning its first four ACC contests by an average margin of 25.0 points. A standout performance occurred whenAlana Beard posted a then-career high againstMaryland on January 2, scoring 35-points. The sophomore shot 15 of 22 from the field, grabbed 11 rebounds, and was 2 assists away from atriple-double.^[6] As a result, Beard was named ACC Player of the Week for the week of January 7th, an honor she would go on to receive a record-tying 5-times throughout the season.^[7] Additionally, Coach Boyle made her return back to the bench on January 6th during the game againstWake Forest.^[8] The Blue Devils dominated in her return with a 45–point win, 91–46. The ladies continued their dominant play into February as the Blue Devils finished undefeated in conference play, just the fifth time in ACC history a team had finished undefeated in conference play.

The Blue Devils then headed toGreensboro, North Carolina for theACC Tournament in their home away from home— theGreensboro Coliseum. Duke had recorded an 8–0 record in previous games played there and went on to improve the unbelievable mark to 11–0 after downingFlorida State, Virginia andNorth Carolina to win the ACC Tournament title. In the championship game against Carolina, freshman sensationMonique Currie registered career highs in points (30), rebounds (12), en route to an 87–80 championship victory. With the win, Duke completed a season sweep over their in-state rivals, and secured their 3rd consecutive ACC tournament title. Currie was named tournament MVP.^[9]

As conference tournament champions, Duke received an auto bid to theNCAA tournament, where the Blue Devils were selected as a No. 1 seed for the second consecutive year. The Blue Devils were placed in the East Region and made quick work ofNorfolk State andTCU before traveling 25 miles down the road to theEntertainment & Sports Arena. Duke may have found a second home away from home as the Blue Devils knocked off No. 14Texas in the Sweet Sixteen, then avenged their only home loss of the season against No. 13 South Carolina in the Elite Eight to advance to the second Final Four in school history, a nearHerculean feat considering the complete lack of depth, with the squad only rotating 8 players the majority of the season. The Blue Devils headed to theAlamodome inSan Antonio, Texas for a date with the No. 1 seed out of the West region, and nationally ranked No. 2Oklahoma in the national semifinal. The game didn’t go the way Duke wanted, as the Blue Devils fell to the Sooners 71–86, but it was still a season to remember. The 2001–02 squad accomplished many things no other team had done before in school history: went a perfect 19–0 in ACC contests, embarked on a school record 22-game winning streak, won a third consecutive ACC Tournament title, and broke 24 school records including the (then) mark for wins with 31— and all of this accomplished with only just eight players.^[10]

Source:^[11]
*Both Rometra Craig and Crystal White appeared in the first 7 games of the season before deciding to transfer. Both players made their final game appearances for Duke against Louisiana Tech on December 2, 2001.

Source:^[12][13][14]

*Rometra Craig andCrystal White season totals absent from statistic table.

Source:^[15]

• 2001-02 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team

• Duke Blue Devils women's basketball seasons
• 2001–02 Atlantic Coast Conference women's basketball season
• 2002 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament participants
• NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament Final Four seasons

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