University of North Carolina Athletics
Brownlow: Waking Up
February 10, 2009 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 10, 2009
By Lauren Brownlow
Carolina seemingly found every way in the book to turn the ball over. It began with a double-dribble in the first nine seconds, followed by a pass fumbled out of bounds, a three-second violation, an offensive foul and a travel - all before the first media timeout. Jumpers Jessica Breland usually drains on the baseline weren't falling. Carolina was getting deflections and near-steals, only to see the ball go right back to a Duke player for a lay-up.
"It was like a nightmare, the fact that we were turning the ball over so much. We had 20 turnovers at halftime," Hatchell said. "So many of them were unforced and just not good decisions. It was like it was contagious there for awhile."
In the first 17:35, Carolina shot 24%, had just 15 points and had 20 turnovers. What kept Carolina in the game was that it had five steals, five blocks and 27 rebounds. Down 27-15 with 2:35 to go, Carolina mounted a 10-0 run to end the half and finished the final 22:25 shooting 63.6%, scoring 60 points and committing just nine turnovers.
Even Hatchell, who values pushing tempo above all else, was upset about the turnovers. But since she knew how important maintaining that fast pace would be, she didn't mention the 20 turnovers at halftime. She just told her team to keep pushing tempo. Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie said her team was playing too fast, managing just ten points off of those 20 turnovers.
"You've just got to keep motivating them," Hatchell said. "I told them, `Keep the tempo up, keep pushing it, keep pushing it,' and we did. We kept pushing it and it played into our favor. It's not always pretty, but it's exciting and it's fun."
The first half was anything but pretty. As late as 5:06 mark, neither team had broken 20 points. It wasn't exactly the brand of basketball Hatchell has been trying to promote. But after adjusting to Duke's press in the locker room at halftime, Hatchell was determined to have her team do the one thing it hadn't done much all night - wake up and just play.
No more x's and o's, no more over-thinking - just playing Carolina basketball was all her team needed to win the game. That means rebounding, running and making spectacular plays. McCallie counted 36 points of the season-high 50 scored against duke in a half that Carolina scored on sheer hustle plays - transition points and free-throw points - alone.
Rashanda McCants decided to let go and just play at just the right time. She had just three points in the first half, including Carolina's first points of the game on a free throw, but had 19 points in the second half on 8-of-9 shooting. She even buried a three-pointer right in the face (and over the hand) of Duke senior Abby Waner that ended a late Duke comeback threat.
"I'm a senior. I'm supposed to wake up," McCants said. "I kind of just put everything on my back. I give all the credit to my teammates, getting me easy baskets. Fast break points usually get you going, and outlets. I would say - Jessica Breland, 23 rebounds. That's motivation."
Jessica Breland, always hard on herself, kept Carolina in the game early with 12 first-half rebounds and fantastic defense on Duke star Chante Black, who made 4-of-15 shots. She finished with a ridiculous 23 boards, the most in a game since Charlotte Smith had 22 in the national championship game against Louisiana Tech in 1994.
Hatchell wanted 15 rebounds from Breland. She had 15 rebounds with 14:53 to go in the game. "I remember with 15 minutes left on the clock in the second half, I was like, `Okay, I've got 15 more minutes to rebound.' Then six minutes, I was like, `I've got six more minutes to rebound'," Breland said. "I was just focusing on that because my offense wasn't there."
Carolina points came in bunches off of Breland rebounds, either by put-backs, drawing a foul on a rebound or starting the fast break. But this wasn't just a two-person effort. This was McCants finding her way with help from great passes from teammates. It was Heather Claytor coming in to take a charge early, She'la White's huge halftime shot sparking the team and Chay Shegog ripping down rebounds with authority.
Italee Lucas ran the break with the kind of assurance she would not have had last year after a shaky start. Cetera DeGraffenreid gave Carolina a big shot whenever it needed one late in the shot clock. Iman McFarland and Breland played such fantastic post defense that the duo combined for eight of Carolina's 14 steals (six by Breland), intercepting or tipping post feeds.
This was a game that Carolina had to believe in each other and their system to be able to win. It was the kind of game where Carolina could not have played much worse early on and yet still found itself in position to withstand the barrage and fight back.
"It wasn't a comfortable feeling out there in the first half. You could probably see it on everybody's faces," McCants said. "Everything was rushed and we weren't in sync. In the second half, we definitely came together. Basketball is a together game, so we got together and played as a team."
NC State came into the Smith Center with more fight than the Tar Heels in January. In this rivalry game, Carolina did not let that happen. Now, Carolina appears to be wide awake.
