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Women's Hoops Falls to No. 7 North Carolina
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January 18, 1999
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) – Juana Brown was shooting poorly. Leading scorerNikki Teasley was in foul trouble. And No. 7 North Carolina was down by threein the second half.
When Brown saw Teasley walk to the bench, “I knew I had to step up. I hadto relax and let my shot come to me.”
It came, in a flood.
Brown scored 10 of the North Carolina’s 12 points in a key second-half spurtto lead the Tar Heels to a 79-68 victory Monday over No. 19 Virginia.
Brown did a little dance and broke into a huge smile after she hit a3-pointer with 4:25 remaining, giving her 20 points and stopping Virginia’sfinal comeback attempt.
The victory by North Carolina (19-2, 6-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) was thefifth in six games against Virginia (11-5, 5-2) and put them in sole possessionof second place in the ACC.
What makes North Carolina so successful, Teasley said, “is that on anygiven night, anybody can score 30 points. That was a real key to see Juana stepup.”
The Tar Heels were behind 48-45 with 14:12 to play. A few minutes later,Teasley sat down with four fouls.
But Brown, who went 2-8 from the floor in the first half, then found hertouch. She made four straight shots, including a pair of 3-pointers and a shortjumper with 11:05 remaining that put North Carolina ahead 57-49.
“That was the key to the game,” Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said of Brown’sbaskets. “She really got hot at the end. Then we turned the ball over. It wasalmost like we self-destructed.”
North Carolina led 39-33 at halftime after beating Virginia on the boardsand getting 18 second-chance points. But the Cavaliers went on a 15-6 run tostart the second half to pull ahead by three on a driving layup by ErinStovall, who finished with 24 points.
Ryan said her team began getting tentative after taking the lead and keptgetting caught in North Carolina’s defensive traps.
The Cavaliers lost the ball 24 times compared to 14 for the Tar Heels, whohave the best turnover margin in the ACC. Virginia also was outrebounded 50-44despite being much taller up front.
“I don’t get caught up in the size,” North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchellsaid. She then patted LaQuanda Barksdale on the shoulder and praised herrebounding ability.
“I think I can out jump anybody,” said the 5-11 Barksdale.
Barksdale had 15 rebounds, five more than Virginia’s top rebounder, DeMyaWalker, who is four inches taller.
“We flat out didn’t rebound, and that was all there was to it,” Ryan said.
Chanel Wright also scored 17 points for North Carolina, and Teasley, whocame in averaging 15.7 points per game, finished with 11.