Heels fend off upset bid

After a slow start, No. 1-seeded UNC pulls away from No. 8 Georgia

NORFOLK, VA. -- Before the start of the 2008 NCAA Women's Tournament, only four eighth-seeded teams had knocked off a top seed to advance to the round of 16.

Eighth-seeded Georgia had it in mind to join that list on Tuesday night as the Bulldogs challenged top-seeded North Carolina in the tournament's second round.

The Tar Heels squelched any such notion.

Playing in the second game at Ted Constant Convocation Center, the second-ranked Heels (32-2) found their legs in the second half and denied a competitive Georgia team with a 80-66 victory.

The late-night victory, though slow to materialize and not exactly a walk in the park, secured UNC's fourth straight trip to the round of 16.

"Learn from it and move on," coach Sylvia Hatchell said afterward, exasperated with her team's lethargic start.

Now the Heels move on to the New Orleans Regional, where they will play No. 4-seeded Louisville at noon Saturday at the New Orleans Arena.

If seeds were to hold, UNC could face sixth-ranked Louisiana State in the quarterfinals, forcing the Heels to try to beat the Tigers on what amounts to LSU's home away from home, just down the road from their Baton Rouge campus.

To reach a third consecutive Final Four in Tampa, Fla., on April 6 and 8, the Heels face a tough road ahead. They arrived home early this morning and will board an airplane south on Thursday.

That flight is likely to be less bumpy than the game against Georgia (23-10), a team that used its height, perimeter shooting skills and sheer might to keep close, trailing by just seven points with six minutes remaining.

Back-to-back 3-pointers from junior Rashanda McCants and freshman Cetera DeGraffenreid gave the Heels a 70-57 lead with three minutes left and allowed them to finally pull away.

McCants scored 15 of her game-high 23 points in the second half, and senior forward Erlana Larkins added 18 points and 10 rebounds.

"I told them the first three minutes of the second half would tell the tale," said Hatchell, whose team went on a 20-0 run from the 3:25 mark of the first half to the 17:09 mark of the second half.

In that time, the Bulldogs committed six turnovers, which Georgia coach Andy Landers said made the difference.

"When we turned it over, they layed it up," he said.

Hatchell, in her 22nd season, owns a 35-14 record in 16 NCAA appearances dating to 1986. The win was her first over Georgia.

Over the years, she has refined her philosophy of transition basketball as a primary offensive weapon, often telling players not to worry when they commit turnovers but instead to keep running "100 miles per hour."

Against the Bulldogs, UNC's team speed was missing in the first half, with the Heels failing to adhere to a warning on Monday from DeGraffenreid, who had said, "We can't slow down to their pace of the game. We really have to keep pushing the ball and getting it inside like we have been all year."

Instead the Heels were nail-top flat to start the game, lumbering downcourt as if the 10 p.m. start time had thrown them out of kilter. They opened with three turnovers and committed 10 in the period.

Mired in a funk, the Heels fell into a quasi-transition flow that Georgia enjoyed. With five minutes to play in the first half, the Bulldogs hit four straight 3-pointers and made a 14-0 run to take a 33-28 lead.

That stretch seemed to infuriate Hatchell, who during a timeout implored her team to pick up the pace. Larkins joined her coach in scolding her teammates.

Back on the floor, Larkins pointed to her head after junior Heather Claytor forced a crosscourt pass that was tipped by a Georgia player out of bounds.

Shortly thereafter, the reminders seemed to sink in and the Heels found their defensive tenacity, which led, for the first time, to a series of transition baskets.

Soon the Heels were passing and finding each other again.

With 30 seconds left in the half, Larkins passed over a triple-team to Pringle, open under the basket for a layup. UNC closed on a 10-0 run to lead 36-33 at halftime.

"We had to shake the cobwebs off," Larkins said. "We did a better job in the second half."