University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
South Dakota
No. 11 UNC Tops South Dakota, 75-69
March 15, 2009 | Women's Basketball
March 15, 2009
CHAPEL HILL --- Cetera DeGraffenreid scored 19 points to help No. 11 North Carolina rally past South Dakota 75-69 on Sunday, giving the Tar Heels a tougher-than-expected test that coach Sylvia Hatchell hopes will be perfect preparation for an opening-round game.
Jessica Breland added 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Tar Heels (27-6), who had added the game to the schedule to fill the annual two-week gap between the end of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament and the NCAAs. North Carolina was coming off a 95-84 loss to No. 4 Maryland in the ACC semifinals last week, ending a run of four straight league tournament titles.
The only problem was the Coyotes (18-11) didn't play the role of the overmatched team despite the fact they're in their first year of Division I competition. They hit 10 of their first 13 3-pointers to take a 41-32 halftime lead, then stretched it to 15 points on a 3 from Annie Roche early in the second half before the Tar Heels rallied to avoid what would have been a humbling loss.
"We wanted a good team," Hatchell said. "This was exactly what we needed, a game like this. ... I've already had several of my coaching buddies say, `We're going to (add a tune-up game) next year because of the long layoff.' Why not? You work all year for the NCAAs. Why do you take off two weeks and not play a game before the biggest time of your season?"
She might have been asking herself the opposite question had her team not responded like it ultimately did against a team that reached last season's Division II national championship game. North Carolina finally got its offense going early in the second half, taking its first lead since the opening minutes on a 3-pointer from DeGraffenreid with 11:44 left.
Then, after the teams had traded baskets and the lead for several minutes, Breland put the Tar Heels ahead for good when she split a double team in the paint and scored for a 69-67 lead with 2:57 to play.
Christina Dewitt added an inside basket on the next possession to push that lead to four, a margin that the Tar Heels wouldn't relinquish even though the outcome remained in doubt until the final seconds. They needed DeGraffenreid to make two free throws for a 73-69 lead 18.8 seconds left to keep control, then rebounded a 3-point attempt from Jasmine Mosley to effectively close the door.
North Carolina--which has been a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament the last four years--shot 59 percent in the second half and took a 39-26 rebounding advantage against the undersized Coyotes.
For South Dakota, the sting of losing the close game subsided quickly compared to the buzz of playing a big-time opponent to close the season, much less getting off to such a fast start.
In fact, first-year coach Ryun Williams had joked with a photographer before the game not to shoot a picture of the scoreboard assuming it would show a lopsided margin. By midway through the first half, however, South Dakota had the lead and Williams was telling that same photographer that it was OK to shoot the surprising score.
"This is a really competitive bunch," Williams said. "We've got a lot of tough kids and great senior leadership. I don't think there was a lot of convincing that had to be done. Our biggest thing was to take it possession by possession, not get too overwhelmed by the moment and treat it like a basketball game.
"What was going through my mind was, `This is really fun.' I don't know how many times I said that to my coaches."
Ashley Wiemann scored 20 of her 23 points in the first half to lead South Dakota, including six 3s in the first half as the Coyotes went 14-for-28 from 3-point range for the game--a record for most made 3s ever allowed by the Tar Heels. But the Tar Heels adjusted in the second half to eliminate so many open looks off penetration and kickouts, primarily by switching more on screens and not helping off shooters as much.
South Dakota made just four 3-pointers in the second half and shot 35 percent after the break.
"They were hitting shots and I was like, `Oh, it's going to be a long night,"' Breland said. "After we adjusted our defense and stopped sagging off and playing help defense, it helped us out a lot."
