GoHeels Exclusive: Hatchell's Grandest Coaching Wins

By Pat James, GoHeels.com

North Carolina women's basketball coach Sylvia Hatchell earned career victory No. 999 on Sunday at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center, where the Tar Heels defeated Washington 90-78.

At the same venue Tuesday, she'll vie for 1,000 against Grambling State.

If she reaches the milestone then, Hatchell will become just the fourth men's or women's college basketball coach to win 1,000 games. Here are some of her most memorable moments, listed in mostly chronological order:

The Francis Marion championships

Only seven seasons into her college coaching career, Hatchell led Francis Marion to a 92-83 win over College of Charleston on March 27, 1982 to claim the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) small college division championship. Then in 1986, the Patriots concluded a 36-2 season with a 75-65 win against Wayland Baptist in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) national championship game. Hatchell accepted the head-coaching job at UNC a few weeks later.

The first win at UNC

Playing in LSU's Crawfish Classic, the Tar Heels defeated Northwestern State 96-79 on Nov. 28, 1986 in Baton Rouge, La., giving the 34-year-old Hatchell her first win at UNC. The Tar Heels finished the 1986-87 season with a 19-10 record and a loss in their NCAA Tournament opener against Old Dominion.

The 1994 NCAA championship

In perhaps the greatest finish in NCAA Tournament history, Charlotte Smith made a 3-pointer at the buzzer to hand UNC a 60-59 win over Louisiana Tech and the NCAA championship on April 3, 1994 in Richmond, Va. Smith, who was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, also hauled in a career-high 23 rebounds to set an NCAA championship game record and tie the NCAA Tournament record. With the win, Hatchell became the first and only coach to lead teams to national championships at the AIAW, NAIA and NCAA levels.

The UConn streak

UNC was picked to win the ACC ahead of the 2004-05 season, marking the first time since 1999 a team other than Duke was predicted to win the league. And in their second game, the Tar Heels proved worthy of that billing, upending Connecticut, the three-time defending national champion, 71-65 on Nov. 21, 2004 in Raleigh. The victory was the first of three straight by UNC against the Huskies. The Tar Heels also beat Connecticut 77-54 on Dec. 5, 2005 in Hartford, Conn., marking the worst home loss in the Geno Auriemma era, and 82-76 in Chapel Hill on Jan. 15, 2007.

The Duke rivalry renewed

Ivory Latta made two free throws in the final seconds to seal a 56-51 win over No. 1 Duke on Jan. 24, 2005 at the Smith Center. The victory snapped a 12-game losing streak against the Blue Devils, and it was UNC's first in 20 tries against a top-ranked team. The Tar Heels later clinched the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament with a 77-68 win against Duke on Feb. 27, 2005 at Cameron Indoor Stadium, where the Blue Devils had won an ACC-record 33 straight conference games. Eight days later, UNC beat Duke again, this time an 88-67 decision in the ACC Tournament championship game. It was the Tar Heels' first tournament title since winning back-to-back championships in 1997-98.

The ascent to No. 1

After No. 2 Duke beat No. 1 Tennessee earlier in the week and the Lady Vols lost again a few days later, Erlana Larkins scored 17 of her 23 points in the second half to lead third-ranked UNC to a 74-70 win at Duke on Jan. 29, 2006. The win catapulted the Tar Heels to No. 1 in the Associated Press poll for the first time in school history. UNC also moved to No. 1 in the coaches' poll, marking the first time they topped the coaches' poll since the end of the 1994 season.

The title defense

In a battle between the top two teams in the country, the second-ranked Tar Heels beat No. 1 Duke 77-65 on Feb. 25, 2006. The win allowed North Carolina to claim the ACC regular-season title in consecutive seasons for the first and only time in school history. The game marked the first advanced sellout for the women's team, requiring the first ticket distribution for students, faculty and staff at Carmichael Auditorium. As the No. 1 seed, UNC later secured a second straight ACC Tournament championship with a 91-80 victory over eventual national champion Maryland in the ACC Tournament final.

The back-to-back Final Four appearances

For the first time since winning the 1994 national championship, the Tar Heels returned to the Final Four with a 75-63 win over Tennessee on March 28, 2006 in Cleveland. A year later, they clinched a second consecutive Final Four berth and set a school record for wins (34) with an 84-72 victory over Purdue on March 27, 2007 in Dallas.

The unblemished ACC season

The Tar Heels entered the 2007-08 season amid uncertainty after losing Latta and Camille Little, who led them to three straight ACC Tournament titles and consecutive Final Fours. But with an 82-51 win over Duke on March 2, 2008 at Carmichael Auditorium, UNC secured its first and only unbeaten regular season in ACC play and handed Duke its worst loss in 15 years.

The return to the bench

In October 2013, just a few weeks removed from her induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Hatchell was diagnosed with leukemia. She missed the entire 2013-14 season fighting the disease. And on Nov. 14, 2014 at Carmichael Arena, she coached the Tar Heels to an 83-49 win against Howard in her first game, excluding exhibitions, since a loss at Delaware in the second round of the 2013 NCAA Tournament.

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