GREENSBORO COLISEUM Anyone who bought book tickets to the ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament a few months ago could not have predicted she or he would be watching this.
It’s the No. 8 vs. No. 9 game on Thursday afternoon and two of the three recent powers, UNC and Maryland, are playing for a chance to play top-seeded Duke in the same 3 p.m. time slot on Friday.
UNC was favored to win the regular-season championship back before we learned star forward Jessica Breland was going to miss the season battling Hodgkin’s disease. And while the Terps were rebuilding, most figured they’d finish in the top half of the league.
But it hasn’t worked out that way as they battled their way through a very balanced league, and there’s a chance today’s loser may not earn a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
UNC helped its case plenty with its 64-54 win over the Blue Devils on Saturday, but still can’t be quite sure. And Maryland might still need a signature victory.
Apparently the Terps get it, taking a big lead and holding on for an 83-77 victory and another shot at the Blue Devils.
Today it’s obvious that the Terps, who lost the regular-season meeting at UNC 75-64 on Jan. 17, are just more ready to play.
Maryland comes out of the game looking as if it has been shot out of the proverbial cannon.
The Tar Heels’ only lead is 2-0 before the Terps score the next 12 points, taking the 10-point lead on a Dara Taylor jumper. The lead gets as high as 16, at 24-8 on a three-point play from Tianna Hawkins at 12:19, before the Tar Heels’ offense wakes up.
Maryland has a 41-31 pad at the break.
The Tar Heels get to within four twice with under six minutes left, but the lead goes back to 10 on a Lynetta Kizer layup at 3:14 and a Jackie Nared free throw at 2:13.
A frantic rally ensues, with the Tar Heels slicing the lead to 79-77 on a layup from Cetera DeGraffenreid (pictured) with 12 seconds left. Continue reading »
CAMERON INDOOR STADIUM/DURHAM If you look at the ACC women’s basketball season as a whole, it’s hard not to say Duke is a solid favorite to win the conference tournament that starts this morning at Greensboro Coliseum.
The No. 1 seed Blue Devils are ranked No. 6 nationally and finished three games ahead of anybody except Florida State, a team they destroyed 73-43 during the regular season.
But the problem for the Blue Devils is their bracket.
Joanne P. McCallie’s club has a bye today, then will play on Friday at 3 against the winner of today’s 3 p.m. first-round game between UNC and Maryland, the two teams that probably love to beat Duke the most and the two that have combined to win the last five tournaments in Greensboro.
In fact, whichever team that comes out of that group and into the semifinals will be the only team that has ever won the event during its 10-year run in the Gate City.
“That’s OK,” McCallie (pictured) said during a semi-regular press luncheon on Wednesday in the press room at Cameron. “It’s a little bit strange to see both Maryland and North Carolina in an 8-9 game. If you look at the numbers it’s weird. Why are they in an 8-9 game? Obviously they’re very good teams. But from our standpoint it’s anybody, anyplace, anywhere. So we just get ready to go, kind of thing. Continue reading »
CARMICHAEL ARENA/CHAPEL HILL It’s yet another edition of the “Battle of the Blues” between archrivals UNC and Duke, and the Blue Devils will come into the Tar Heels’ refurbished arena as strong favorites.
No. 6 Duke (24-4, 12-1) has already clinched the ACC regular-season championship and will have the No. 1 seed for the tournament in Greensboro beginning on Thursday, while the Tar Heels’ season has bordered on a nightmare.
UNC (17-10, 5-8) was the preseason favorite to win the ACC - at least before it was determined that star forward Jessica Breland would not be able to play as she recovers from Hodgkin’s lymphoma - but comes into the matchup having lost seven of its last eight games and desperately needing to do something to impress the NCAA Selection Committee.
It’s a day of dedication for the arena, even though the first game was played here back on Jan. 6, and Gov. Bev Perdue is among those on hand for a halftime ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Duke had embarrassed the Tar Heels on Feb. 8 in Durham, rolling to a 79-51 victory. But today UNC gets some payback in a 64-54 shocker, and Coach Sylvia Hatchell has a very happy 58th birthday.
The win does not come easily for the home team.
The Tar Heels, who start Trinity Bursey and Martina Wood on Senior Day, get out to an 11-5 advantage on a Krista Gross 3-pointer with 16:16 left in the first half and never trail before the break, taking a 30-26 advantage into the locker room.
Duke shoots 26.8 percent from the floor before the break to UNC’s 39.3, and the Blue Devils really never find the hoop all day.
The Blue Devils make a run and then get a big break leading 42-39 with 13:12 to play, when the elbow of UNC freshman Cierra Robertson-Warren’s connects with the neck of Duke winger Karima Christmas and Robertson-Warren is ejected. It’s the first ejection call in ACC women’s basketball this season.
But the Blue Devils’ performance at the free-throw line foreshadows the conclusion. Before Duke gets the ball back Jasmine Thomas misses two on the ejection, then Christmas misses three, then Keturah Jackson misses the front of a one-and-one.
UNC takes the lead for good on a steal and layup from Cetera DeGraffenreid (pictured) with 10:21 to go, and it seems that she takes over the game from that point. The Tar Heels have to endure the mine field of having their two biggest players foul out - Chay Shegog at 5:02 and Waltiea Rolle at 4:20. Continue reading »
It’s the final day of ACC women’s basketball before the tournament starts in Greensboro four days from now.
All three Triangle teams are, well, in the Triangle on a very big day for all involved.
It has been a long time since UNC has still been fighting for an NCAA berth in late February, but that’s the case for a Tar Heel team that has lost seven of its last eight games.
The Tar Heels will host No. 6 Duke today at 3 p.m. at Carmichael Arena in a game to be shown live nationally on the Fox Sports cable channels, and an upset of the Blue Devils on Senior Day might be just what Sylvia Hatchell’s club needs to nail down a bid.
That won’t be an easy task, as Duke routed the Tar Heels 79-51 on Feb. 8 at Cameron Indoor Stadium. In its third season under Joanne P. McCallie (pictured), the Blue Devils have already clinched an ACC regular season championship and want to keep making the case for a No. 1 seed going into the NCAA Tournament.
Today will be the final home game before the tournament for Tar Heel seniors Trinity Bursey and Martina Wood.
An hour before that one starts N.C. State, which has been one of the surprises of the ACC in its first season under Kellie Harper, will look for an upset over visiting No. 22 Georgia Tech in the Senior Day game for Nikitta Gartrell, Lucy Ellison, Sharnise Beal and Inga Muciniece.
State’s only home ACC loss this season has been to UNC.
There are six games on today’s ACC slate, and the only seeds already set for the tournament are Duke at No. 1 and Florida State at No. 2. Georgia Tech is also guaranteed a bye into the quarterfinals. Continue reading »
CARMICHAEL ARENA/CHAPEL HILL UNC hasn’t had a women’s basketball season typical of its recent tradition.
But Tar Heel coach Sylvia Hatchell (pictured) said there’s no reason the redemption can’t start tonight.
Tonight at 6:30, the Tar Heels will be on the road looking to complete a season sweep of a Georgia Tech team ranked No. 22 in the country. It’s the opener of a TV doubleheader on Fox Sports South, which will conclude with No. 6 Duke hosting No. 21 Virginia at Cameron Indoor Stadium at 8:30.
The Duke game is one of two women’s contests in Durham tonight, as N.C. Central hosts Longwood on the Eagles’ Senior Night. Duke alumna Wanisha Smith is an assistant coach for Longwood.
Hatchell’s Tar Heels were the media’s preseason picks to win the ACC regular-season title, albeit before All-America candidate Jessica Breland was determined to be out for the season with lymphoma. Breland is almost ready to play, but will take a redshirt and do her senior season in 2010-11.
And the last time UNC played Georgia Tech - that in the Tar Heels’ conference opener - it was 13-1 after the 89-78 victory. Now Hatchell’s club is 17-9, 5-7 in conference play and scratching to try to wrap up an at-large NCAA berth. Continue reading »
It’s the penultimate weekend in ACC women’s basketball, and there are two big rivalry games in the Triangle today.
The one that isn’t sold out is on TV.
UNC will host N.C. State for the 90th time in its annual PinkZone game at refurbished Carmichael Arena. Tickets are not available for the 2 p.m. contest, which will be one of two sellouts in the building this season along with Duke’s visit a week from today.
Italee Lucas (pictured) is the Tar Heels’ leading scorer, and poured in a career-high 33 points in their 81-69 victory in the teams’ first meeting Jan. 25 in Raleigh.
First-place Duke, meanwhile, will host heated rival Maryland at 1 p.m. at Cameron Indoor Stadium, looking to move to within one win of clinching the ACC regular-season title. The No. 8 Blue Devils’ game with the Terps will be shown on Fox Sports South. Duke won the teams’ first meeting of the season 58-57 in College Park.
Where anyone else will finish is very much up for grabs. UNC and NCSU are in a four-way tie for sixth in the conference, just one game behind fourth-place Georgia Tech which currently holds the final prospective first-round bye in the conference tournament. Continue reading »
CARMICHAEL ARENA/CHAPEL HILL UNC is trying desperately to get back onto the winning track in women’s basketball.
Sylvia Hatchell’s Tar Heels (16-8, 4-6 ACC), who were the favorites to win the ACC and were in the AP Top 25 until Monday, have lost five straight games.
And things may not get any easier tonight, when they travel to Wake Forest (15-10, 6-5) for a 7 p.m. game at Joel Coliseum.
The Tar Heels have won six straight in the series, but are as you can see behind Mike Petersen’s Deacons in the ACC standings.
UNC almost broke the streak on Monday in an 82-78 double-overtime loss at Virginia, a matchup between the two teams getting the most votes without making the Top 25.
“We need to rebound better, make layups and make free throws,” Hatchell said after Wednesday’s practice. “It was unbelievable the shots we missed in the paint against Virginia. We’ve been having a lot of shooting drills with contact to try to get them comfortable with put-backs. They’re going hard. If we could just ever get over the edge we could turn the corner.”
UNC’s junior point guard Cetera DeGraffenreid (pictured) said the performance against the Cavaliers was actually a step in the right direction.
“We probably need to just come out like we did in the Virginia game,” DeGraffenreid said. “We know we can play better than we had the last few games. We showed that when we went to double overtime at Virginia. They’re the third team in the conference. We need to come out with the intensity we did on Monday.”
The Deacons have two freshmen from the Triangle in forward Lakevia Boykin from Southeast Raleigh and Asia Williams from Durham Hillside. Continue reading »
UNC hasn’t been in this situation in women’s basketball in quite some time.
But the Tar Heels are probably slight underdogs in a must-win situation on the road.
Sylvia Hatchell’s club (16-7, 4-5 ACC) will visit Virginia (18-6, 7-3) tonight at 7 p.m. in the Cavaliers’ annual “PinkZone” game.
UNC is ranked No. 18 nationally, but with four straight losses will probably be unranked at game time. A win by Virginia would probably get the Cavaliers back into the AP Top 25 next week.
The Tar Heels, who have won 13 straight in the series, probably need to win the rest of their regular-season games to get a bye into the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament.
Cetera DeGraffenreid (pictured) is the Tar Heels’ assist leader and No. 2 scorer. Continue reading »
UNC needs to get things turned back in the right direction quickly.
Duke just wants to stay on track, while N.C. State is hoping for a signature upset.
All three of the Triangle’s ACC women’s basketball teams are in action tonight in the Triangle, and they’re typical high-stakes February games.
N.C. State’s first-year coach Kellie Harper will make her first visit to Duke in the teams’ only meeting of the regular season. Paced by junior guard Jasmine Thomas (pictured), the No. 8 Blue Devils lead the ACC and should be strong favorites in the 7 p.m. contest. It’s Duke’s annual PinkZone game, with fans encouraged to wear pink attire to support breast cancer awareness and research.
Tipoff is at the same time at Carmichael Arena when Boston College, the only team to beat Duke this season, visits No. 18 UNC. The Eagles are coached by Sylvia Crawley, who was the center on the Tar Heels’ 1994 NCAA championship team. One of BC’s seniors is guard Ayla Brown, the former American Idol contestant whose father Scott is the junior member of the United States Senate. Continue reading »
CAMERON INDOOR STADIUM/DURHAM It’s one more battle to see which blue-clad women’s basketball team is the best in the Triangle - at least for one night.
And both homestanding No. 8 Duke (18-4, 6-1 ACC) and visiting No. 18 UNC (16-5, 4-3) are in a bit of a bad mood.
The Blue Devils’ chances to run the table in the ACC ended on Thursday, when they got slapped in the face with a 61-57 loss at up-and-down Boston College.
Meanwhile the Tar Heels, who once upon a time were favored to win the conference’s regular-season title, have lost two straight including an 80-69 defeat on Thursday night at Miami that may have made the Hurricanes’ season. We’ll see.
It’s the first time they’ve played each other this millennium when both were coming off a loss.
Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie lost her first six meetings with UNC before the Blue Devils won 81-79 last March 1 on Senior Day at Cameron.
The cameras are in the house for ESPN2’s Big Monday. And Duke gives them a show, putting six players in double figures in a 79-51 rout. Continue reading »
Greg Nccu Student on "Miller leads NCCU to 11th victory": There are a lot of Rumors on Campus about Joanna Miller leaving NCCU next year. Please Coach Robinson, We need to keep this player from gong to another College.
Mike Potter on "Women’s roundup: NCCU wins on Senior Night, Tar Heels fall": She's certainly a solid talent and has a chance to be among the top few players in the history of the program. Next season's team will be even more talented. I'm thinking her scoring might be down a bit, but I'll be surprised if they don't approach 20 wins.
GREENSBORO COLISEUM Anyone who bought book tickets to the ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament a few months ago could not have predicted she or he would be watching this.
