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No. 10 UNC Cruises By Virginia, 64-45, In ACC Quarterfinals
March 6, 2004 | Women's Basketball
March 6, 2004
Game Notes on the NC State Matchup (in PDF Format)
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By AARON BEARD
Associated Press Writer
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Sylvia Hatchell was miffed that North Carolina did not have a player selected to the Atlantic Coast Conference's all-defensive team.
Apparently, her Tar Heels were, too.
Nikita Bell scored a season-high 18 points and No. 10 North Carolina held Virginia to a record-low shooting performance in a 64-45 victory in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament Saturday.
Freshman Ivory Latta added 17 for the second-seeded Tar Heels (23-5), who shot just 39 percent but scored 29 points off turnovers. North Carolina advanced to Sunday's semifinals, where the Tar Heels will face the North Carolina State-Clemson winner.
Virginia (13-16) shot 13-for-60, setting tournament single-game records for worst field goal percentage (21.7) and fewest field goals. The previous lows were 24.6 percent by North Carolina in a 1996 quarterfinal loss to Clemson and 14 field goals by N.C. State against Duke in the 2001 championship loss.
"That means we played good defense," said freshman Camille Little, who had 11 points and nine rebounds. "I'll take that any day."
Anna Prillaman had 11 points on 3-for-16 shooting to lead the seventh-seeded Cavaliers, who will miss the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1983. Brandi Teamer, who came in averaging a team-best 12 points per game, went scoreless on 0-for-7 shooting.
Virginia had more turnovers (22) than field goals.
"I wasn't surprised at all," Bell said. "We had a hand in their face every time they went out. We were intense and we knew who their shooters were."
Virginia forced North Carolina into a season-high 26 turnovers, but couldn't get anything going with just 12 points off those mistakes. In addition, the Cavaliers scored just eight second-chance points despite pulling down 18 offensive rebounds.
"What was frustrating for me today was we just couldn't make shots," Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said. "I tried to stay positive with the team, because a lot of times we have played like that ... but we usually come around and make a lot of shots in a row.
"We were really forcing turnovers today, but we just could not finish for some reason."
Virginia hit three of its first four shots, taking a 7-2 lead on a layup by Jocelyn Logan-Friend with 17:26 left in the half. But the Cavaliers suddenly went cold against North Carolina's man defense, going 1-for-26 the rest of the half and trailing 28-18 at the break.
Prillaman's 3-pointer with 7:10 left in the half was the Cavaliers' only other field goal, tying the game at 12.
"We were fortunate that in the first half they didn't shoot too well," Hatchell said. "Hopefully our defense had something to do with that."
North Carolina wasn't much better early, shooting just 9-for-30 in the first half. But the Tar Heels had 14 points off turnovers to take the 10-point halftime lead.
Then, leading 36-25 after a 3-pointer from LaTonya Blue, North Carolina used a 9-0 spurt to seal the game. Latta hit a 3 and La'Tangela Atkinson added a turnaround jumper in the lane to cap the run, which gave North Carolina a 45-25 lead with 13:10 left.
Virginia got no closer than 13 points.
