Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech's Nikki Davis is smothered by Duke's defense during the Hokies' 57-52 loss on Friday at Cassell Coliseum.

BLACKSBURG -- Five of the top 25 women's basketball teams in the nation ply their trade in the ACC, so its no surprise that Virginia Tech found itself in a tangle with one of them on Friday night.

The Hokies nearly tripped up No. 4 Duke in that tangle as Lindsay Biggs missed a 3-pointer that would have tied the score with 1.5 seconds left on the clock. That was an eye-popper for the Hokies and something a bit lower in the anatomy for the Blue Devils.

Blue Devils coach Joanne McCallie said her team would "appreciate" the 57-52 victory over the Hokies at Cassell Coliseum, "But this is gonna hit 'em in the gut too."

Duke is ranked not just higher than the Hokies, the Hokies are not even ranked. The Blue Devils are taller, boast top-rated recruits and a national player-of-the-year candidate in 6-foot-5 center Chante Black.

The Hokies, well, they don't boast.

Tech came into the game having lost seven of its last 10 games. It went 0-2 in its first two ACC games against teams that are not among those five teams ranked in the AP's Top 25.

But it was Tech, not Duke, that ran out to an early lead on Friday. The Blue Devils tried to exploit their height advantage, but when they tried to pass inside to Black, the Hokies' stole the ball away.

That may be in part because the Blue Devils played without starting guard Abby Waner, who averages 9.3 points, 3.9 assists and 3.6 rebounds per game.

But its also because the Hokies have acknowledged the inherent height disadvantage they'll face most of the season against the ACC's royalty and have been working precisely on the kind of teamwork to keep the big girls from having monster games against them.

With center Brittany Gordon guarding Black, forward Utahya Drye had four steals and guards Laura Haskins and Nikki Davis each had three. The Hokies as a team had 14 steals and forced 28 Duke turnovers.

Duke also shot poorly in the first 11 minutes of the game, hitting just 23 percent from the floor. Still the Blue Devils were only down by seven at the worst and once their guards started hitting 3-pointers, they pulled back ahead and led by five points, 31-26, at halftime.

After getting a pair of free throws to start the second half, though, the Hokies went 8¹₂ minutes without scoring as the Blue Devils built a 16-point lead. Tech, which had hit six of its first eight shots, could not find a net in a fishing village.

Part of it was defense, particularly by Black who had two blocks to go with her 13 points and 14 rebounds.

"She's every bit of 6-5," Tech coach Beth Dunkenberger said. "Whether she makes you rush your shot, or makes you adjust a little."

At the same time, the Hokies were just missing shots. They went 7-for-49 after the initial 6-of-8 shooting.

Utahya Drye, who leads the team with 14 points per game, scored four, hitting 2 of 13 shots.

But once Duke was up by 16, it didn't step on the gas.

Black said the Blue Devils didn't let up, but "we've got to finish out when we're up by 16."

Instead, the Hokies pulled themselves back into it with defense, rebounding, and finally, with about six minutes left, starting to hit their shots.

All four of Drye's points came in the final 4:06, and she also came up with a key steal and an offensive rebound.

Biggs came up with a 3-pointer and a shorter jumper, and then Davis hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to three points, 53-50, with 58 seconds left.

Tech was forced to foul to get the ball back with 22.7 seconds left, and Duke's Karima Christmas hit both ends of her one-and-one to rebuild the lead to five.

Haskins brought the ball up and dished to Biggs, who dribbled in and hit a jumper to cut the lead back to three with 13 seconds left.

Tech fouled again, and this time Christmas missed the open end of the one-and-one.

The rebound caromed off Black's foot and out of bounds, so the Hokies got the ball back.

Even though the Blue Devils had only five team fouls, they again allowed Haskins to get the ball to Biggs, and Biggs took the 3-point shot with 1.5 seconds left. It sailed out of bounds. Tech fouled again, but this time it was Black with the free throws and she hit both with .3 seconds left to seal the win for Duke.

"That was the best I've ever seen Virginia Tech play and I've watched a lot of film." McCallie said.

Duke MP FG FT R A F PT

Black 34 5-8 3-4 14 0 1 13

Christmas 23 3-4 3-7 3 2 0 9

Cheek 24 3-6 2-2 4 3 3 8

J Thomas 35 0-10 0-0 0 3 1 0

Jackson 18 2-4 0-0 2 2 4 4

Hopkins 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Selby 9 1-2 0-0 2 0 0 3

Mitchell 16 1-2 2-2 2 1 1 5

Scheer 8 2-4 0-0 1 0 1 6

Gay 22 3-4 1-1 5 2 0 7

K Thomas 9 1-2 0-0 2 0 0 2

Totals 200 21-46 11-16 39 13 11 57

Virginia Tech MP FG FT R A F PT

Drye 34 2-13 0-2 8 2 4 4

Gordon 29 4-7 0-0 7 0 3 8

Davis 31 5-12 4-4 7 4 0 16

Biggs 29 6-16 0-0 2 1 1 14

Haskins 32 1-5 0-0 1 3 2 2

Lewis 3 0-1 0-0 0 0 1 0

Grey 13 0-2 0-0 1 0 1 0

Harrison 17 3-9 2-2 2 3 2 8

Basham 12 0-3 0-0 1 0 1 0

Totals 200 21-68 6-8 35 13 15 52

Rebounds include team rebounds.

Score by periods:

Duke 31 26 -- 57

Virginia Tech 26 26 -- 52

3-point goals: Duke 4-12 (Scheer 2-3, Selby 1-1, Mitchell 1-1, J.Thomas 0-5, Christmas 0-1, Cheek 0-1), Virginia Tech 4-19 (Biggs 2-9, Davis 2-6, Drye 0-1, Haskins 0-1, Harrison 0-1, Basham 0-1).

Turnovers: Duke 28 (Black, K.Thomas 5), Virginia Tech 19 (Davis, Haskins 5).

Blocked shots: Duke 6 (Black 2), Virginia Tech 2 (Gordon, Biggs).

Steals: Duke 12 (Jackson, Gay 3), Virginia Tech 14 (Drye 4).

Officials: Dean, Smith, Outlaw.

Attendance: 2,409.