University of North Carolina Athletics
1994--Women Win NCAA Basketball Title
March 24, 2003 | Women's Basketball
March 24, 2003
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RICHMOND, Va.-Charlotte Smith hit a three-point shot at the buzzer, lifting North Carolina to a stunning 60-59 victory over Louisiana Tech in the NCAA Women's basketball Championship game at the Richmond Coliseum.
The Lady Techsters seemed to have the game won in the closing seconds. A jump shot by Pam Thomas gave Tech a 59-57 lead with 14 seconds left. Carolina's Tonya Sampson then missed a jumper and only 0.01 seconds remained as the ball fell out of bounds off a Tech player.
Stephanie Lawrence fired the inbounds pass to Smith who then hit her only three-pointer of the season from the top of the key.
The victory capped a 33-2 season for the Tar Heels and made Carolina the only school at the time to have won NCAA basketball titles in both men's and women's basketball.
Smith, the MVP of the Final Four, finished with 20 points and a Final Four record 23 rebounds. Sampson, an All-America forward, finished with 21 points and eight rebounds.
This game was close all the way. Tech had a five-point lead late in the first half. But two layups by Sampson in the last 33 seconds made it 32-32 at halftime.
Carolina led throughout the second half until Thomas finally put the Lady Techsters up 49-48 with a layup at the 7:18 mark. Tech then built a five-point lead with 5:06 on the clock.
But, Carolina then reeled off five straight to tie the game. Smith hit a driving layup, was fouled and added a free throw. Another basket by Smith made it 53-53.
Sampson and Sylvia Crawley scored to offset Tech field goals before Thomas hit her late go-ahead shot.
Thomas led the Tech scoring with 15 points.
Crawley added 14 points for Carolina.
Rick Brewer is in his fourth decade with the University of North Carolina athletic department and brings a unique historical perspective to TarHeelBlue.com. A native of North Carolina, Brewer served as UNC's Sports Information Director from 1975 until his retirement from full-time work in 2000. Email Rick Brewer at rbrewer@uncaa.unc.edu.
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