Virginia Upsets No. 7/8 North Carolina, 69-59
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March 2, 2003
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia women’s basketball team won its fifth straight ACC game with a 69-59 upset of No. 7/8 North Carolina on Sunday at University Hall before a season-high crowd of 7,034 fans.
Virginia improved to 15-12 overall and 9-7 in ACC play to finish third place in the Conference standings. The Tar Heels finished the regular-season at 25-4 overall and second in the ACC at 13-3.
“I was very proud of our players today,” said Virginia head coach Debbie Ryan.
In the first half, UNC opened the game with the first two buckets to lead 4-0, but the Cavaliers took over the lead and never looked back, going ahead by as many as 13 points, 30-17. UVa held a 32-25 edge at intermission.
In the second half, UNC came within two, 46-44 with 7:08 on the clock, but UVa utilized a 10-0 run to go ahead by 12 points, 56-44 with 3:42 to go.
“It’s pretty simple; it came down to rebounding,” said UNC head coach Sylvia Hatchell. “They pretty much dominated.”
Sophomore LaTonya Blue (Baltimore, Md.) paced UVa with her second double-double of the season (third of her career) with a season-best 25 points, including a career-best four treys, and 10 rebounds. Sophomore Cherrise Graham (Conshohocken, Pa.) chipped in 14 points, while sophomore Brandi Teamer (Joliet, Ill.) added 11 points.
“We wanted (the win) really badly,” Graham said. “They embarrassed us down there.”
Coretta Brown led UNC with 16 points, while Leah Metcalf had 13 first-half points. Nikita Bell added 11 points.
Overall, UVa out-rebounded UNC, 51-36. The Hoos held the Tar Heels to a season-low in points (59) and field goal percentage (.303).
“We really worked on that this week,” Ryan said of the team’s rebounding effort. “It was surprising to me that we out-rebounded them by that much.”
“This was big for (Virginia) as far as the NCAA Tournament goes and they showed it,” Hatchell added. “They’re playing more as a team, they know their roles better, and they’re playing with confidence.”
Virginia awaits seeding in the ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament. The full bracket will be announced on Monday, March 3 following the completion of the Wake Forest-Georgia Tech game.
“We worked really hard to get to this point,” Ryan said of her team’s turnaround in the last month. “We’re 7-1 in the last half of the ACC season and 8-2 in our last 10 games. I’m really excited for this team and how they’ve stayed together.”
“Debbie’s showed tremendous patience with this team,” Hatchell said. “She’s tried a lot of things and she’s done a good job of bringing them around.”
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
1 2 - Final#7/8 North Carolina (25-4, 13-3) 25 34 - 59Virginia (15-12, 9-7) 32 37 - 69
Scores of other ACC games this afternoonFlorida State 68, Clemson 59