University of North Carolina Athletics
Brownlow: Shegog, Tar Heels Get Tough
December 15, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 15, 2008
By Lauren Brownlow
Despite being 6-foot-5, Chay Shegog is surprisingly hard to notice on the court at times. She is still a young player and has not quite yet learned how to use her height yet at the college level.
But today, not only did Shegog have 15 points in 16 minutes and execute nice-looking post moves, but she also looked every bit her 6-foot-5 frame when some rough play went a little too far. She and a player from Arkansas-Pine Bluff got tangled up and Shegog did not back down, getting whistled for a foul and then getting close to her shorter opponent and looking her directly in the eyes. "Get off me!" she said firmly - not yelling, but she was serious.
So the player did what most of the rest of us would have done - get off of her.
For a team that Hatchell has been saying all year is "too nice", she and the rest of her teammates enjoyed seeing the tougher-edged side of Shegog emerge. "If someone pushes us to that certain limit, then it's going to come out of us," fellow freshman She'la White said. "I think it did tonight with Chay. So I think it's really in everyone (on the team)."
Cetera DeGraffenreid would be the last Tar Heel anyone would expect to see getting into a tussle with an opponent. She has taken her share of hits. Yet she was the least surprised to see Shegog get into that mode. "We were all just watching like, `That's Chay.' If she gets upset, she's going to let you know," DeGraffenreid said. "She's going to say you need to back off. They backed off of her."
Having already endured one "rebounding practice" and now likely having to go through another one, DeGraffenreid said that this team came out with a killer instinct in the second half largely because of wanting to avoid those same types of punishing practices. "We have a tendency to sometimes come out and not run the play that we're supposed to," DeGraffenreid said. "We just wanted to get out there and not have her say, `You didn't do this,' again. I guess that's just us not wanting to hear the same thing over and over again, just going out there and doing it."
So the Tar Heels started off the second half by expanding a 52-27 lead to a 70-27 lead in a little over five minutes. Then the freshmen took it from there. White had 15 of her career-high 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting and showed some of her shooting form Hatchell has been talking about, knocking down lay-ups, jumpers and even three-pointers (2-of-3).
One thing that is allowing her freshman to show so much improvement is their experience. With a few blowout victories under their belts, Hatchell has been able to play her freshmen for significant amounts of time. The growth in both is evident. "They're both just playing now," Hatchell said. "They're not thinking so much, like `Am I supposed to go here and do this?'"
What's odd about it is that Rashanda McCants, already dealing with a broken nose, missed the game with a hurt finger. Jessica Breland played just 13 minutes. Thirteen Tar Heels played, all 13 scored and all played at least ten minutes. There was no drop-off between line-ups.
"Kids can look at minutes. When they come here, they know they're going to get to play," Hatchell said. "The other kids aren't going to be upset about sharing the time because of the way they play, they get tired and they want to come out. They're all happier and they've got smiles on their faces. They're smiling, their mommas and daddies are happy. Coach Hatchell sleeps better.
"And we win."
