Joanne McCallie or Coach P as she is affectionately known, won here first regular season game in Cameron Indoor Stadium.  Duke thrashed the youthful UNCG Spartans 84-39 in the home opener.  Duke won it's 75th straight game against a non conference opponent in the process.

"It was a great atmosphere and I loved the crowd," said Coach McCallie when asked her reaction to her first regular season win at home.  She went on to say it felt natural and one thing certainly remained the same as from the Coach G era, that being a win.

 Picture gallery here -slidehow mode works best.

The team waves goodbye to 500 plus fans

For awhile it looked as Duke was going to struggle.  In fact, they had a slender lead until a UNCG timeout.  The score was 17-8 at that time, but when the Devils returned to the floor they never looked back outscoring their opponent 27-8 going into halftime.

Duke woke up late in the half behind two very nice steals and buckets from Brittney Mitch who started the game there.  Depth was developed at the position or the guard spots in general with freshman Jasmine Thomas and Emily Waner seeing action.

The guards were forced into more action fore Duke was missing arguably it's top two players in Abby Waner and Wanisha Smith.  Waner has a high ankle sprain and is day to day as is Smith, but McCallie mentioned Smith might return for the next game versus Purdue in her press conference.

Abby Waner and the Blue Devil players signed autographs for the fans after the game

Duke's swarming defense set a school record of 28 steals in the game.  Duke forced the Spartans into 38 turnovers and just one more point at 39.  Krystal Thomas had her way in the paint tallying 20 points and 10 rebounds.

McCallie stated that the Devils would continue to get the ball to their talented trio of Black, Thomas and Gay who all attended the press conference.  Each player's comments reflected on a tight knit group whose theme of blue collar work this season was obvious.

The Blue Devil Nation will follow the Duke Women's team all season long and I encourage fans to check out the team.  Despite the band returning from South Bend, the atmosphere was quite fun for those who attended.  There was a lot of fun stuff going on for the kids outside and well, it's a lot of bang for the buck.  I highly suggest that you make your own assessment by attending what will be a great home schedule, featuring Rutgers, Tennessee, Maryland and UNC among others.  The official crowd was 5,534.  The team has been highly accessible.  They signed autographs for the fans after the game.

Emily Waner gets the ball inside to Chante Black