Thinning The Rotation

December 13, 2009 | Women's Basketball

By: UNC Athletic Communications

Dec. 13, 2009

By Lauren Brownlow

As Carolina gets closer to the meat of its schedule, Coach Hatchell would like to shorten the rotation. As she shuttled nine players in and out of the game for 11 or more minutes against Gardner-Webb, the game swung back and forth precariously against a team that would not quit.

"We've done this a couple of games - we've had pretty good leads, 18 or 20 points - and all of a sudden, we sort of fall apart a little bit. I'm looking at who's out there at the time and different things like that. We'll narrow down the playing time as we get closer to ACC," Hatchell said.

"I'm playing a lot of kids out there, different lineups just about every game. I'm just letting them play a lot so I can see as we get into the heat of the battle who's going to be able to do certain things for us."

And it's even harder when one game, a freshman will look brilliant and the next, completely lost. Sometimes, those swings happen from play to play. Carolina saw an 18-point lead chipped down to just six in less than five minutes in the second half; five Gardner-Webb points came off turnovers in that span and the Bulldogs added a fastbreak lay-up as well.

So with 10:36 to go and her team having scored just one basket in five minutes, Hatchell called a timeout with a message that sounds so simple, but doesn't seem that way as the team tries to implement it each game.

"We just need to settle down and make better decisions, get the ball inside with either a pass or a dribble, set good screens on our sets - basically, just to settle down," Hatchell said. "It just shows that we can go on some runs and then all of a sudden, we took off. But when you've got a young team, that's going to be a part of it."

Indeed - Carolina led by 17 a little over two minutes after that timeout and by 21 a few minutes later on a 20-5 run. And naturally, it was Cetera DeGraffenreid and Italee Lucas that ignited that run, scoring the first nine points and accounting for 12 of the 20. The duo was spectacular the whole game, combining for 37 points, eight of Carolina's 11 assists and five of 11 steals. They were also two of Carolina's leading rebounders; Lucas had nine and DeGraffenreid had eight.

"(Tierra Ruffin-Pratt), DeGraffenreid and Lucas - they get a lot of the credit. But their post players, they did so much dirty work. They did a great job defensively. When we beat their guards, they slid over and took some charges," Gardner-Webb head coach Rick Reeves said. "(The guards) are going to be there all season. But without (Jessica) Breland, they're going to have to develop those other post kids and if they come along, they're going to be an awfully good team."

Quietly, though, Chay Shegog had eight points on 4-of-5 shooting and added five rebounds and a steal. Laura Broomfield had nine rebounds in 18 minutes and never quit on the boards. Freshman Waltiea Rolle struggled with foul trouble but finally got her first block late in the game. Nyree Williams played just five minutes and blocked two shots. Cierra Robertson-Warren also had foul trouble but drew a charge early and played solid defense.

And rebounding is something that Hatchell will look to as she thins this rotation. Twenty-three of Carolina's 47 rebounds were pulled down by Carolina's four main guards. Carolina's starting post players combined for seven rebounds; the three freshmen post players combined for five.

There were also times DeGraffenreid, Lucas or She'la White jetted down court while starting the break and found themselves 1-on-4 as their teammates huffed and puffed behind them. That's part of getting used to college basketball, as is getting into early foul trouble (Tierra Ruffin-Pratt and Waltiea Rolle had three fouls each at the half).

"Defensive play, just overall who can produce in there and get the job done, but mainly (I'm looking for) just running the floor, getting rebounds and being aggressive without fouling," Hatchell said. "It's just being young and trying to block shots. You can't do things in college against skilled players that probably you got by with in high school. You do that in college and they're going to make you pay for it lots of times."

Hatchell said she would like to make sure that everyone is in good shape for the season, and seeing some tired players despite just three seeing more than 20 minutes was a concern. And as usual, a missed box-out will mean a quick hook for any Carolina player. Carolina had 109 possessions and scored just 81 points, turning it over 24 times. Many of the misses were close, point-blank shots.

Hatchell will tolerate turnovers, missed shots and missed assignments - but she won't tolerate lack of effort. "They're playing hard and as long as they're playing hard, that's all I ask for. I didn't fuss at either one of them (Ruffin-Pratt or Rolle, each of whom had four fouls). Some of those were hustle fouls and they're going to get smarter, but as long as they're out there playing hard and making things happen."