Heels' rally falls short against Maryland

GREENSBORO -- So much for momentum.

The North Carolina women’s basketball team opened Thursday’s first round ACC Tournament game against Maryland with none of the energy or toughness it had in a victory over Duke in the final regular season game. The eighth-seeded Heels eventually woke up, but didn't have enough in the end to rally against Maryland, a 83-77 winner at the Greensboro Coliseum.

Behind a team-high 22 points from Lynetta Kizer, the Terps capitalized on an early lead with aggressive post play and accurate free throw shooting down the stretch. After an up-and-down season, they shook off youth and inexperience and performed to the level expected of the defending tournament champions.

The Heels fell behind by 11 points in the first half and by 16 in the second before coming alive over the final seven minutes.

They rallied to cut the Terps’ lead to two points with 12.6 seconds remaining, but that is as close as they would come. With her team leading 79-77, Maryland’s Kim Rodgers made two free throws and teammate Jackie Nared made a layup at the buzzer to secure the win.

UNC players walked off the court with puzzled looks, frustrated by a game that was symbolic of the second half of their season where shots just didn’t drop consistently through the rim. The Heels have now lost eight of their past 10 games, falling from the first round of the ACC Tournament for the first time in 14 seasons.

North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell must go back to a 67-49 loss to Clemson in 1996 to recall the last time her team fell in the opening round of the ACC Tournament.

“We just had some spells out there when we weren’t a very good team,” Hatchell said. “Sometimes we were a very good team. If we would have played the whole game like we did the last seven minutes we would have won the game.”

But early on the Heels had no answer for Kizer, Maryland's 6-foot-4 sophomore center, who made the difference in the post. She grabbed 10 rebounds.

“That was huge,” Maryland coach Brenda Frese said. “From the tip, I mean she just put this team on her back with her energy, with her emotion. She just refused to lose. And it was contagious within our team. ... I though they really didn’t have an answer for her.”

Maryland’s Tianna Hawkins added a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds, as the Terps won the battle of the boards 49-48.

“You win championships with defense and rebounding,” Hatchell said. “And at times our defense needs to be a lot better and rebounding is the thing that’s gotten us most of the year.”

They had other problems, too.

The Heels shot 36.8 percent from the field (28-for-76) and seemed uneasy against Maryland's man-to-man defense. They tried to attack inside, but the rims at the Greensboro Coliseum were unfriendly to players like sophomore center Chay Shegog, who shot 6-for-16 from the field.

She finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds, but lamented the Heels lost opportunities on the glass.

“[Rebounding has] been our focus, not just the past four or five games, but the entire season,” Shegog said. “We just have to knuckle down and do it.”

For most of the game, the Heel were not the fast-breaking team that began the season ranked among the nation's top 10 teams. They leave the conference tournament with many questions to answer before the NCAA Tournament - if they are indeed invited into the field of 64.

UNC has not missed an NCAA Tournament since the 2000-2001 season, where they finished 15-14 overall and 7-9 in the ACC.

Hatchell said she didn’t think they would this season if the NCAA Tournament committee continues to take RPI, strength of schedule and conference wins in to consideration.

She said the Heels have 10 wins over RPI top-100 teams and six wins over RPI top-50 teams, including Duke, St. Johns, Georgia Tech, South Carolina and Maryland. She said the Heels have an RPI of 29.

“If the committee follows the protocol that they’ve been following with the ACC, then we should be in,” said Hatchell who participated in the NCAA mock selection in July. “Never has an ACC team with that high of an RPI not gotten in.”

Still, the Heels’ confidence as seem to wane at the end of the season, even after a seemingly motivating victory over Duke. Coaches and players are left searching for the magic formula to jumpstart a team that had been in 11 of the past ACC Tournament finals.

“I think it’s just got to come with experience,” Hatchell said. “Time and experience.”