University of North Carolina Athletics
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Vanderbilt
Tar Heels Fall To Top-Seeded Vanderbilt, 70-61
March 23, 2002 | Women's Basketball
March 23, 2002
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By CHUCK SCHOFFNER
AP Sports Writer
AMES, Iowa - Shaquille O'Neal has nothing on Chantelle Anderson when it comes to getting hacked. The difference is that Anderson makes her free throws.
Anderson sank 14 of 16 free throws in scoring 22 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as top-seeded Vanderbilt beat fourth-seeded North Carolina 70-61 Saturday night in a Midwest Regional semifinal.
"We got the ball to Chantelle where she could be effective," Vanderbilt coach Jim Foster said. "That happened to be the free throw line tonight."
Vanderbilt (30-6) righted itself after losing most of a 13-point halftime lead and moved into a regional final showdown Monday night against Southeastern Conference rival Tennessee, the No. 2 seed.
Tennessee, which split two regular-season games with Vanderbilt, advanced with a 68-57 victory over 11th-seeded Brigham Young.
"It's always a big game to play against them, but at this point in the season, every game is a big game," Vanderbilt's Jenni Benningfield said. "We've got to play with a lot of emotion and leave our heart on the floor."
Vanderbilt held North Carolina (26-9) well below its 80.5 scoring average and slowed guards Coretta Brown and Nikki Teasley with a triangle-and-two, guarding them man-to-man while the three other players stayed in a zone.
rown scored 19 points but shot just 7-for-18. Teasley had only three points on 1-for-14 shooting, though she did hand out nine assists.
"I don't feel like they did anything special," Teasley said. "I got the shots I wanted. They just didn't fall for me."
Anderson was limited to eight shots, but North Carolina could not guard her on the free throw and she made the Tar Heels pay for sending her there.
"It was really rough inside," Anderson said. "They decided to throw everyone at me, try to foul me, disrupt me."
North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell said she noticed on game tapes that Arkansas and Louisiana State were allowed to get physical with Anderson in the Southeastern Conference tournament without having fouls called.
"It seemed like we couldn't put our bodies on her the way we'd seen on other tapes and ended up putting her on the foul line," Hatchell said.
"What would you call it? Hack-a-Telle?" Foster said. "It doesn't work when the person you're hacking goes 14-of-16."
enningfield and Ashley McElhiney each scored 13 points and Jillian Danker had 12 for Vanderbilt. Paige Sutton scored 12 for North Carolina.
North Carolina trailed just 53-49 when Leah Metcalf hit a 3-pointer with 6:22 left. But the Tar Heels went more than 4{ minutes before scoring again and Vanderbilt ran off eight straight points to get out of danger.
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Videos From  2002 NCAA Tournament UNC vs. Vanderbilt |
| Nikki Teasley slings a precision pass to Candace Sutton for the close-range hook. 56K | 100K | 300K |
Anderson sank four free throws, Zuzi Klimesova hit a 17-footer and McElhiney dropped in two free throws for a 61-49 lead with 1:53 remaining.
Vanderbilt's last basket was a 3-pointer by McElhiney with 7:32 left. The Commodores scored their final 19 points on free throws and finished 22-for-29 at the line.
"This game was ugly," Danker said. "It was a bang and gut it out type of game tonight. We were clawing for everything we got out there."
North Carolina stayed close despite Vanderbilt's 60 percent shooting in the first half and trailed 26-22 after Brown scored with 4:59 left.
ut McElhiney, Klimesova and Danker each hit a 3-pointer as Vanderbilt ended the half with a 9-1 run to take a 35-23 lead. The Commodores played the final 4:35 of the half without Anderson, who went to the bench with her second foul.
North Carolina closed quickly in the second half, outscoring Vanderbilt 11-3 to cut the lead to 38-36 with 15:50 to play. The Tar Heels trailed 42-40 after Chrystal Baptist scored over the 6-foot-6 Anderson, but never got any closer, though it took Vanderbilt until the 3:03 mark to get the lead back to double digits.
