Tar Heels women take two

Sweep of Duke nets regular-season title

Gail Goestenkors exited the floor of Carmichael Auditorium with a speed that suggested the Duke women's basketball coach wished she could outrun the events of Saturday.

There will be no forgetting for Goestenkors or the top-ranked Blue Devils, who revealed themselves to be a team in deep trouble when the foe is No. 2 North Carolina.

The Tar Heels didn't shoot particularly well, but they jumped in Duke's head and waltzed out of a standing-room only arena with a 77-65 win and the ACC regular-season championship.

It is the first time in five years that Duke (25-2, 12-2) will not own at least a portion of the regular-season title. The Blue Devils' only losses of the season have been to UNC.

The Tar Heels picked up the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament, which begins Thursday in Greensboro. The Heels also likely have wrapped up a No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament and likely will be the No. 1 ranked team in the country on Monday.

Duke will spend the next few days wondering how to solve its Carolina problem. The two teams have met in the past four ACC championship games.

"I guess it is something about Carolina that makes us go out there and not play our game," Duke senior All-America Monique Currie said. "They made us rush, they made us make bad decisions, and they killed us on the boards. I think all of it, for the most part, is things that we're in total control of. We just didn't take care of it today."

The loss marked Duke's fifth straight to Carolina. In fact, the Blue Devils have not defeated UNC since it installed its 1-3-1 pressure defense.

Duke turned the ball over three times in the first 1:18 seconds of the game as the Heels (26-1, 13-1) went on a 6-0 run.

"They all know what we're doing, everybody knows it's going to happen," said Camille Little, who had four of UNC's 12 steals. "I don't know if they're intimidated, but if you make 'em think about it, then you're playing good defense."

Duke finished with 23 turnovers. UNC had the same amount, but turnovers come with their high-risk, high-speed offense.

The Devils never settled down during the first half. Carolina, on the other hand, dusted off the aggressive rebounding style that has been a hallmark of UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell's career but that these Heels have struggled with at time this season.

After La'Tangela Atkinson scored to make the score 27-19 with 3:08 left in the first half, Goestenkors called a timeout. She reached out and grabbed Abby Waner by the jersey with one hand and snagged Harding's shirt in the other. She chewed them out. She screamed at the rest of the team. She demanded Duke get its act together.

But the Devils could not.

Sure, Chante Black got an easy bucket out of the timeout, but it didn't stop Ivory Latta from sinking a deep 3-pointer.

"I saw a little frustration," said Little, who had 13 points. "Sometimes, they'd be arguing a little bit. Or their faces -- we were smiling and having fun -- but it was real serious for them."

Duke was so rattled that Currie, who is 6 feet tall, had the 5-6 Latta one-on-one in the low block but chose not to post the Heels' vocal leader up.

The half was gut-check time.

"We talked about being who we are, and that's a team that's very aggressive and assertive and confident and has the attack mind-set," Goestenkors said. "I thought the first half, we were extremely tentative and passive, and that's not our game."

UNC shot 13 of 40 from the floor in the first half, which allowed the Blue Devils to keep it close.

The Heels never pulled away from Duke -- and the Devils were finally able to create some movement by having Harding and Wanisha Smith attack the basket in the last four minutes.

"I think when we finally realized we needed to attack, we needed to go after every steal, and we got a couple of steals in," said Smith, who finished with 16 points. "We just needed to go after them because all the game, we weren't being the aggressor."

Duke cut the score to 67-60 with 2:25 left, but UNC made free throws and broke Duke's press for easy layups.

At the end, the Devils bench looked heartbroken, while the Heels celebrated their first solo conference title since 1997. Latta, who had a game-high 18 points and nine turnovers, jumped on the scorers' table to bask in the crowd's love.

She jumped off the table and posed for the cameras, flashing the No. 1 sign with her hands.

After the game, UNC wasted no time saying it expected to see Duke again -- in the final of the ACC Tournament.

Someone asked Hatchell just how good her team was -- did it match up with the 1994 NCAA title team?

"[They're] as good as they want to be," Hatchell said.

It's an answer that shows that Heels can be maddeningly unpredictable. But Saturday, they were good enough and let their rival's implosion seal their title.