Georgia Tech Ga. Tech/Duke Duke Women's College Basketball recap on ESPN

"It was good for us in a way to have a close game like this, because I'm sure we'll have more of them against conference teams," Goestenkors said after Thursday night's 86-83 victory by the No. 5 Blue Devils. "But I'll admit that I'd prefer not to have any close ones at all."

Duke shot 51.6 percent (33-64) from the floor -- including a sizzling 60.7 percent (17-28) in the first half -- and outrebounded Atlantic Coast Conference rival Georgia Tech 38-34.

The Blue Devils hit eight of their first 14 shots of the second half and led by 12 points with 11:52 to play, but they never could close down the Yellow Jackets completely.

"They hung around and hung around and hung around," Goestenkors said. "We never could put them away, which is dangerous against a team like Georgia Tech, because they can up and beat you."

Georgia Tech stayed within two baskets of Duke during the final 6:02.

"It was worth the price of admission," said Georgia Tech's Agnus Berenato, who huddled with her emotional team at center court moments after suffering their second single-digit loss in three games. "It was a great opportunity for us to get a big upset win on the road against a top team, but we didn't get it done."

Georgia Tech had troubling handling Alana Beard, who hit her first eight shots from the floor and finished with a career-high 29 points to lead Duke (15-1, 3-1 ACC).

Georgia Schweitzer added 24 points to help Duke get its 15th straight win over Georgia Tech and the Blue Devils' 12th straight win at home. She was 9-for-12 from the field, including 3-for-4 on 3-pointers.

Jamie Kruppa scored a career-high 28 points for Georgia Tech (10-5, 2-3). Niesha Butler, fighting the flu, and Milli Martinez added 20 points each.

Beard's driving layup with 1:04 to play gave Duke an 84-79 lead. Kruppa hit two free throws with 52 seconds left to play to cut Duke's margin to 84-81, and then rebounded a Schweitzer miss with 30 seconds left.

Martinez hit from the baseline with 15.2 seconds remaining, cutting it to 84-83 before Beard's free throws.

Martinez got a last Georgia Tech possession into the front court, but she could not get away from a Duke double-team at the top of the key and failed to get off a shot.

"Georgia Tech had some really good looks at the basket in the second half, and a couple of their shots just bounced off the rim," Goestenkors said. "This could have gone either way."

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