University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Baylor
North Carolina Falls To Baylor In Regional Final, 72-63
March 28, 2005 | Women's Basketball
March 28, 2005
By BOB BAUM
AP Sports Writer
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) - Sophia Young scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and No. 2 seed Baylor beat top-seeded North Carolina 72-63 Monday night in the finals of the Tempe Regional. Young, whose mother came from the West Indies to see her play for the first time, was named the regional's MVP.
The Lady Bears (31-3) extended their school-record winning streak to 18 games, leading by as many as 19 points in the second half against the Tar Heels (30-4), who had won 17 straight going into the game.
Chameka Scott, 0-for-9 from 3-point range in her previous two games, was 4-for-8 against North Carolina and scored 18 points for Baylor. Steffanie lackmon added 14 points.
North Carolina, trying to join the Tar Heel men in the Final Four, shot just 32 percent. Ivory Latta, North Carolina's 5-foot-6 point guard, scored 21 but was bounced around all night by the Baylor defense and was just 6-for-21 shooting, 3-for-12 on 3-pointers. Leah Metcalf scored 11 and Nikita Bell 10 for the Tar Heels.
Latta and Bell were named to the All-Region Team.
Baylor outscored the Tar Heels 12-2 over the final 5:16 of a sometimes-frenetic and often-sloppy first half to take a 33-24 lead at the break. Scott's 3-pointer with 12:01 to play made it 49-31, and Young's two free throws with 11:01 remaining gave Baylor a 53-34 lead.
The Tar Heels had not faced that big a deficit all season, and responded with an 8-0 run to cut it to 49-38 La'Tangela Atkinson's rebound with 6:57 left. But the closest North Carolina got was seven in the final seconds.
The game was not the up-and-down, freestyling showcase it was supposed to be. There were 42 turnovers, 25 by Baylor and 17 by North Carolina.
Camille Little grabbed her own rebound and scored to put North Carolina ahead 22-21 with 6:33 to play in the half. Young scored six in a 10-0 run that put Baylor up 31-22 with 21.2 seconds to play. Latta's two free throws cut the lead to 31-24 with six seconds left in the half, then Chelsea Whitaker drove the length of the court for a layup at the buzzer to boost the lead back to nine at the break.
