University of North Carolina Athletics
Loss Leaves Tar Heels Without Answers
April 2, 2007 | Women's Basketball
April 2, 2007
By Lauren Brownlow
CLEVELAND--It wasn't supposed to end this way. Not for two of the best players to ever play at North Carolina. When Ivory Latta got to the podium in the postgame press conference following Sunday's 56-50 loss to Tennessee, the reporters sat in stunned silence for 30 seconds at the sight of her normally lively, sparkling eyes now filled with tears.
What do you ask Latta? "How do you feel?" It's pretty obvious she feels devastated. Next question. "What happened?" Would even Latta know how to answer that?
The Tar Heels trailed Tennessee 22-21 at halftime, and after the Lady Vols opened up the half with a brief 5-0 run to take a 27-21 lead, Carolina responded with a 17-2 run over the next five minutes or so to take a 38-29 lead with 12:57 to go. The Tar Heels and the Lady Vols traded baskets for a time. After Ivory Latta converted a three-point play and Erlana Larkins made a jumpshot at the 8:18 mark, Carolina led 48-36.
The Tar Heels would not score a single field goal in the final 8:18 as Tennessee went on a 20-2 run to win the national semifinal, 56-50. It was the eighth-largest second-half deficit ever overcome in Final Four history. The Tar Heels rarely even got a look at the basket, turning it over seven times in the last eight minutes while attempting only eight field goals.
So, what happened? Was it Carolina's defense? No way. The Tar Heels held Candace Parker, who had been shooting over 70% over the course of the NCAA Tournament, to just 3-of-12 shooting from the field. Carolina held Tennessee to just 27% shooting for the game, the worst performance shooting from the field by a winning team in Final Four history.
"I'm extremely proud of my team. I felt like we should have won the game. We have never lost to a team when they shot 27 percent. I feel like defensively we did the job when you hold a team to 27 percent. I'm really disappointed and just really proud of my team," Coach Hatchell said.
Was it Carolina's offense? Not exactly. Carolina shot just 28.1% in the first half but started off the first 12:42 of the second half shooting 11-of-17 (64.7%) from the field. The Tar Heels were getting fastbreak points and were showing patience on offense in the first stretch of the second half. Ivory Latta, Erlana Larkins and Camille Little also had help. Rashanda McCants arguably had her best game of the year, scoring 13 points on 6-of-12 shooting and adding nine rebounds (a career high), an assist, two turnovers, a block, and five steals in 31 minutes.
"It's time to step up. It's `do or die.' You get it done or you don't and go home, and I didn't want my team to be in that position so I was personally doing everything I could within myself to make sure I was stepping up and giving my team everything," McCants said.
It was not a pretty game. Carolina turned the ball over 29 times to Tennessee's 21. The trouble was that most of Carolina's turnovers weren't the "good" kind on the fastbreak, but instead occurred mostly in the halfcourt set or trying to get the ball into Larkins, who struggled throughout the game to get open. Tennessee's Sidney Spencer manned up on Larkins the whole game, but it was a deceiving defense because whenever Carolina attempted to feed the ball to Larkins, a Tennessee guard would dart out and either steal it, deflect it, or take it away from Larkins if she did manage to get the ball. She only took four shots, but she still pulled down 11 rebounds, had three assists, a block and three steals in 33 minutes.
"I didn't have the chance (to get the ball). The two times I did get the ball, I took Nicky (Anosike) and Sidney Spencer off the dribble. I felt like if I was able to get the ball then good things would happen, but it was really hard to get the ball," the junior Larkins said.
The two seniors could not help Carolina enough, in the end. Camille Little had her third foul with 12:38 left to go in the game and fouled out of her last game with 5:10 to go. Little had nine points on 4-of-9 shooting and five turnovers and a steal in 24 minutes. After shooting just 1-of-3 in the first half, Latta ended up with 13 points (tied with McCants) and shot 3-of-10 in the second half, with at least three shots coming in the final moments of the game. Latta picked up her third foul with 8:57 left in the first half, and sat the rest of the half on the bench.
In the end, that was one of the only questions a reporter could think of to ask her: What did it feel like to sit on the bench in the first half?
"I was just hurt because I couldn't be out there with my team and help them get through it. But Alex did a great job of leading the way. It just hurts so bad right now," Latta said, her voice breaking.
To add to the seniors' foul trouble, LaToya Pringle picked up her third foul with 10:39 to go and her fourth with 5:17 left. She was going to sit on the bench for awhile but she was forced to go back in when Little fouled out, and she picked up her fifth foul less than a minute later.
Carolina's game plan involves getting the ball inside and getting to the foul line. But Carolina could not get there. In fact, both Tennessee's Candace Parker and Nicky Anosike each were held to three field goals, but each hit eight free throws to score 14 points apiece. Carolina got to the foul line only eight times the whole game, converting just six tries.
"We were trying to get the ball into Erlana and then we just started driving, and I wish if I had it to do over we had just every time just drove straight to the basket and at least tried to get on the foul line a little bit, because they shot 26 (free throws), we shot eight," Coach Hatchell said.
Coach Hatchell looked surprised when she saw that statistic - eight free throws to 26 for Tennessee. Her whole team looked surprised. Erlana Larkins sat by herself in the shower, fielding questions from reporters. Rashanda McCants was surrounded by a gaggle of reporters, and she sat with her head down. Her teammates surrounded her on both sides, each having private moments of grief, but mostly sitting in stunned silence. Rashanda McCants was asked if she thought her team was still the best team out of the teams left.
"Most definitely. Things didn't go our way; we didn't capitalize on some things. We had a chance and we could have won and things would be different, but unfortunately that's not how things go," McCants said.
Lauren Brownlow is the managing editor of Tar Heel Monthly.
