University of North Carolina Athletics
Brownlow: Tournament Tough
March 5, 2011 | Women's Basketball
March 5, 2011
By Lauren Brownlow
Carolina has had games like this all year. The Tar Heels will look like world beaters for a half, or even a 10-15 minute stretch, and get out to a big lead. They have given back quite a few of those leads, but not like this. Not with every post player on the roster picking up at least four fouls with 7:10 to go.
The Tar Heels put on a clinic on both ends in the first half, holding FSU to 6-of-25 shooting and forcing 16 turnovers. They led by 15 at the break and everything seemed to be going their way.
Carolina led by as many as 17 points in the second half and found itself up just five after a Courtney Ward three-pointer with 10:52 to go. FSU would not hit another field goal the rest of the way, but still managed to cut the lead to one point a minute and a half later as the Seminoles hit 5-of-6 foul shots in that span.
The closest comparison to this game was when Carolina hosted NC State in the first meeting between the rivals and they combined for 54 fouls and 66 free-throw attempts. Unlike that game, "just" 48 total fouls were called tonight but the teams combined to attempt 67 foul shots and the game took well over two hours.
It's the kind of frustrating game that has had bad results for Carolina in the past. Every basketball fan knows this kind of game: there's no flow, and the players, coaches and fans start to get edgy. It's been those kinds of games where the body language starts to become negative for Carolina, where they start committing silly reach-in fouls, taking quick (and bad) shots or turning the ball over.
"We've been not real tough at times this year," Hatchell said. "I was proud of our players for hanging in there. The kids hung tough in there and it was a battle. We knew it was going to be. You get to tournament time, that's what it is."
This time, they always had an answer. Cetera DeGraffenreid controlled the game throughout and picked up just two fouls. She had a key steal and lay-up with 7:39 to go that put Carolina up by six. Breland, who has dealt with foul trouble and her shot not falling all season, came back into the game with just over five minutes left (and four fouls) and hit a jumper to put Carolina up nine. Italee Lucas answered FSU runs more than once in the second half.
It all sounds simple, but it hasn't been. Carolina has found a way to lose games like this one this year. Now, they're finding a way to win them. "It's just basically heart, pride," Breland said. "We have a sense of urgency. We don't want to go home. We all have the same goal, and we know we can do it."
Right now, these seniors want to turn their season around and they still have time. There's no point in lamenting why they didn't play this well - or this tough - at times throughout the season. They're playing that way now, when it counts the most. Two games down, two to go in Carolina's second season.
"To keep our focus, keep our mentality, taking no plays off, looking each other in the eyes and knowing we have each other's back," Lucas said of her team's thoughts halfway through the ACC Tournament. "We have two more games left and we want to go into them with the focus and the fight that we had today."
Lauren Brownlow is the executive editor of Tar Heel Monthly.
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