March 4, 2010
By Lauren Brownlow
There were some issues that have plagued Carolina that reared their heads again against Maryland today. Untimely turnovers, bad shots, second shots (and second-chance points) and even defense.
Carolina was able to overcome 30 turnovers against Duke on Sunday because of their defense but couldn't overcome 11 against Maryland because of inconsistent defense.
In many ways, the effort against Maryland summed up the season - stretches of such promise and potential followed by error-ridden stretches that end in Carolina down double digits.
Maryland made seven of its first eight shots to go up 11 and then turned two of their next three misses into second-chance baskets to go up 15. Maryland led 33-18 with 6:22 to go in the first half and Carolina responded with a 10-0 run to cut it to five. Maryland was back up by 12 just three minutes later and up ten at half.
Maryland led by 16 four times, three in the second half. There was no quit in Carolina. The final time, Carolina went on a 13-5 run to cut it to eight and got the deficit as low as four with 5:11 to go. Maryland went back up ten with 2:13 left. It was a time when this team might have surrendered in the past, but it didn't.
Carolina closed the game on a 10-6 run (10-4 if you don't count a meaningless lay-up Maryland had at the buzzer) and got the deficit as low as two with 12.5 seconds left. Laura Broomfield, who didn't play against Duke and missed the first half of this game, had a double-double in the second half alone and scored eight of her 14 points in the final 2:47.
What's more important is that Carolina played almost flawless defense during that stretch, double-teaming exactly who they were supposed to, when they were supposed to and Cetera DeGraffenreid finally seemed to get how important she can be on that end. She was constantly harassing ball-handlers, slapping at the ball and ending up with six steals on Maryland's 13 turnovers.
"We had some spells out there where we weren't a very good team but sometimes, we were a very good team," head coach
Sylvia Hatchell said. "I thought if we had played the whole game like we did the last seven minutes, we would have won the game."
Head Coach Brenda Frese mentioned that her Maryland team was inspired by watching the men's team knock off Duke the night before. Maryland and North Carolina were the nine and eight-seeds, respectively, so it wasn't the heavyweight battle that Wednesday night's game was.
Still, Maryland and North Carolina are the last five teams to win the ACC Tournament. Maryland won it last year and Carolina won it four straight times from 2005 until 2008. These teams have won 18 of the 31 ACC Tournaments combined (each with nine), most among all other ACC teams.
Neither wanted to go out, and it showed. Both teams have been used to dominance, relatively speaking, over the rest of the ACC except Duke. Now, both were answering questions about the NCAA Tournament after the game and Hatchell was lobbying for her team just to get a bid.
"We've had a tough schedule and our RPI is good. We've got some real quality wins.
So I'm hoping that's going to help us get in," Hatchell said. "I know this probably shouldn't be a factor but we have played without Jessica Breland all year, too."
And while the lack of a Breland-caliber player on the inside has hurt Carolina all season, what today did was show how great the future will be when Breland has much more experienced and seasoned company in the post.
Chay Shegog and Broomfield combined for 30 points and 22 rebounds. Shegog was as aggressive as she has been all year on offense and Broomfield was making lay-ups that have bounced out for her all year.
The biggest issue has been that no 2-3 elements of this team are clicking at the same time. Italee Lucas was red-hot when DeGraffenreid was struggling; Lucas didn't make a shot today. The post players have been inconsistent; sometimes Shegog has great games and sometimes it's Waltiea Rolle or Broomfield. Sometimes, it's just DeGraffenreid or just Lucas carrying the team.
Last Sunday, though, none of that mattered. This team showed what it can do when it plays Carolina basketball. They are eager to capture that magic again. "We need to try to get that team back that played against Duke," DeGraffenreid said.
It's there, somewhere. And one day, whether it's this year or next year, they'll find it.
