University of North Carolina Athletics
Brownlow: Digging Out
January 30, 2009 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 30, 2009
By Lauren Brownlow
It was Faculty/Staff Family Night for the Carolina versus Wake Forest game, and Firehouse Subs handed out red fire hats to the children. Hatchell nabbed one for herself and told her team before the game that she wanted to have to put it on afterwards to hose down her team that would hopefully catch fire.
The Tar Heels did have their best shooting day in over a month, but Italee Lucas, who scored a career-high 27 points on 9-of-14 shooting, was the one who was on fire.
But what really happened was that Lucas decided that she was sick and tired of losing. "That losing streak - I wanted to get rid of that," Lucas said matter-of-factly. "We started that tonight and hopefully we just keep pushing forward. I didn't like that losing at all. It didn't feel good."
As Carolina saw a 15-point lead cut down to three points in the span of a little over five minutes, reminiscent of the Georgia Tech loss, she didn't let "Here we go again," cross her mind. It was more like - as the song goes - "Here I go again (on my own)."
Lucas has been a revelation this season, almost looking like a completely different player. She has had moments in every Carolina game this season that have wowed the crowd and fired up her team.
She is tough and frankly, has a little bit of a swagger. It's almost a taboo in women's basketball for a player to have the same kind of ego and cockiness that a lot of male players have. Ivory Latta had it, and this team sorely needs it. So with 7:24 to go and the Carolina lead at just 59-56, the lyrics seemed to hang in the air:
"And I made up my mind"
Lucas hit 1-of-2 free throws.
"I ain't wasting no more time"
She hit a baseline jumper while being fouled, pumping her first twice and screaming loudly before coolly converting the three-point play.
"Here I go again"
She hit 1-of-2 free throws after drawing yet another foul on a baseline jumper and then asserts her will in the paint, making a runner to give Carolina a seven-point lead with 4:32 to go. It helped ignite a 9-0 run that turned a four-point lead into a 13-point lead with 3:16 to go.
But unlike the song, she didn't have to do it all on her own. Jessica Breland, who walked into the media room with at least three ice packs on various body parts, toughed out an episode of allergies and a bad ankle on her way to a double-double.
Wake Forest head coach Mike Petersen said it best - the game came down to loose balls. His staff tracked nine Carolina points in the first half after loose-ball plays, and that's an area that hasn't been a strength of this team so far this season.
"Carolina did a better job of digging balls out than we did," Petersen said. "We offensive rebounded the ball pretty well. We end up with more offensive rebounds than they do. But they dug out some loose balls, some balls that we actually had our hands on."
Of Carolina's six three's (four in the first half), three came after loose balls. Twice, the Tar Heels were able to knock Wake Forest passes away as the shot clock wound down, preventing the Deacons from getting an easy look and causing a shot-clock violation. Carolina draws an offensive foul on an in-bounds play after forcing a jumpball.
And at the end of the game, summing up what can happen if you get on the floor and force a jumpball, She'la White did just that and the arrow was pointing Carolina's way. Lucas scored the final two of her career-high 27 points with seven seconds left.
Carolina has seen quite a few loose balls or offensive rebounds by opponents bounce right into the hands of the other team. It's something that can get to be frustrating, so frustrating that Carolina might forget to dive for a ball here and there or commit frustration fouls. So on the heels of this three-game losing streak, Carolina has had some of its most challenging practices of the season.
The hobbled Breland told Hatchell before the game that she was ready to win for obvious reasons but also because the practices have been so hard. Carolina has had tough practices all year but nothing comes easy and now, the team has seen its hard work pay off.
Petersen knew that his team was in for a long night, but not just because of the losing streak that he speculated was the first since Michael Jordan played here (it actually is the first three-game streak since 2004). "We knew they would be mobile, agile and hostile," Petersen said, channeling Don King. "That's who they are. We knew they'd be hungry and angry. I've got a tremendous amount of respect for their program. They always play hard. If they won 20 in a row, they'd play hard."
It's not a bad trademark for a team to have that it plays hard all the time. This team has tried hard all season long but is still learning where that extra bit of effort can lead it. Lucas, one of the more naturally talented players in the nation, is learning what that extra push can do for her. Carolina is now learning that diving for a loose ball here and hustling for a rebound there can be the difference in any game.
