University of North Carolina Athletics
'Miss Priss' Comes Through
January 5, 2007 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 5, 2007
By Lauren Brownlow
Carolina had just beaten Virginia Tech handily, 102-68. As Ivory Latta and LaToya Pringle were leaving the media room, a reporter commented on the irony of Pringle, coming off a career-high 22 points, doing the entire postgame interview with a nice purse on her shoulder.
"I'm about to go, though," Pringle said, as if having her purse was not a big deal.
Coach Hatchell turned back to the reporters as Pringle closed the door. "She is Miss Priss," Coach Hatchell insisted. "Believe me."
"Miss Priss" did it all against the Hokies - 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting and 4-of-6 from the free-throw line, nine rebounds (four offensive), two steals and three blocks in 26 minutes.
"My teammates have been getting me the ball. They've been trying to boost up my confidence to shoot the ball more, play a bigger role this year to make up for the people that we lost last year. So I've just been going out there and giving my all to help my team," Pringle said.
When teammate Ivory Latta was asked about Pringle's play, she just laughed and shrugged. The sight of Latta left momentarily speechless was shock enough, but she managed to finally provide an assessment.
"What can I say? I don't know what to say about her, to be honest. Sometimes I just sit there and watch her," Latta said. "I know I'm going to get in trouble on film, because I just sit there and watch her. She's outstanding. She's doing a great job for us rebounding. I'm happy she's definitely on my team with those blocks on the inside."
Pringle's play was especially valuable since Erlana Larkins struggled, shooting just 2-of-11 for four points.
"Post defense, a lot of it is about getting good position, and Nare (Diawara) has really worked hard to be a fundamentally sound defensive player," Virginia Tech Head Coach Beth Dunkenberger said of how her team slowed Larkins down. She paused for a beat, and quickly added: "Unfortunately, we couldn't put Nare on her and Pringle because she stepped up and had her way with us tonight."
In the first half, Larkins was 1-of-8 for two points - but she managed to add six rebounds, three assists and three steals in 16 minutes of first-half action.
"I want to say this, because a lot of times people look at Erlana was 2-for-11," Coach Hatchell said. "Well, she had 10 rebounds, four assists, five steals, and only one turnover. So some nights whenever you're not shooting the ball real well, you help your team in other areas, and that's what she did."
Larkins spent most of the night as a human pinball in the post and did not attempt a single free throw. Her persistence paid off, however, as she shot 1-of-3 in the second half and added four rebounds, an assist and two steals in just nine second-half minutes.
The Tar Heels were up 62-43 about five minutes into the first half, and Larkins was called for an offensive foul. She had seemed frustrated most of the game, but at this point she just shook her head and laughed as she ran up the court the other way to play defense.
"We still have a lot of things we need to work on, but the main thing is just want to play hard. I told them, `Look, I can live with your mistakes, just play hard. We'll correct things as we move along, but just play hard.' So I thought in the second half, we really played hard and did some nice things out there in the second half," Coach Hatchell said.
After being outrebounded 25-21 in the first half and allowing the Hokies to crash the offensive boards for 11 offensive rebounds and 11 second-chance points, the Tar Heels buckled down and outrebounded the Hokies 20-9 in the second half and allowed just three more second-chance points. The Tar Heels pulled down five offensive rebounds and scored four second-chance points in the first half, but added nine in the second half and scored 10 second-chance points.
Here's the scary part - despite Larkins' shooting woes, the Tar Heels still shot 55.7% for the game and 63.6% in the second half. The Tar Heels dominated the paint, shooting 29-of-47 on the game to Virginia Tech's 12-of-33.
Ivory Latta seemed not to be able to miss. On one possession, she had just set up the offense, took a crossover dribble and popped a three-pointer in the face of her defender. It swished cleanly through the net for three of her season-high 24 points and one of her four three-pointers.
Camille Little had 19 points and shot extremely well, going 7-of-8 from the field, 1-of-1 from the three-point line and 4-of-5 from the free-throw line. Little added three rebounds (all offensive), three assists and three steals.
Rashanda McCants added a quiet 13 points, going 3-of-6 from the field, 2-of-2 from the three-point line and 5-of-6 from the foul line. McCants also had four assists, three steals and just one turnover.
After trailing Georgia Tech at the half on Tuesday, Carolina fought its way to a 67-59 victory less than 48 hours before they beat the Hokies tonight. Carolina has begun ACC play 2-0 and will face Virginia on Monday and Clemson on Thursday, making it four games in nine days.
"We're not quite where I want us to be yet. We're close," Coach Hatchell said. "I think a couple of days in the gym, a couple of practices, we can go through some things and we can correct some things, some mistakes that we're making, especially defensively. But we're not where I want us to be - yet."
Lauren Brownlow is the managing editor of Tar Heel Monthly.
