CHARLOTTE - The requirement to be labeled a 'great' athlete goes far beyond talent. Rather, it's the ability to raise one's performance to a higher level in crucial games, the fearless mentality to carry the team even when one is not having a career night and the uncanny knack to make plays with the game on the line that leave fans and opposing coaches in a jaw-open stupor.
In a whirlwind 30 hours of basketball at this weekend's Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament, the Duke women's team won a thriller over Maryland and lost a heartbreaker to North Carolina. In both games, 'great' basketball players rose above the fray and made the difference-namely Duke guard Kira Orr, North Carolina forward Tracy Reid and UNC guard Marion Jones.
In Friday's quarterfinals against Maryland, Orr was in the midst of a horrendous game by her generally lofty standards.
The Terrapins' defense had limited Orr to 2-of-11 shooting, three assists and forced four turnovers. A group without a star, the scrappy Terrapins had somehow built a 48-44 lead after two Kim Bretz free throws with 1:41 left in the game. That's when Orr took over.
On Duke's next possession, Orr slashed by her defender and drew the foul from center Kalisa Davis. Orr hit one free throw to cut the lead to three. After Maryland forward Stephanie Cross misfired from the baseline, the Blue Devils grabbed the rebound and called a timeout with 40 seconds left.
"The whole time in the timeout I was just thinking, if I get to take the shot, just make it," Orr said. "That's all I was telling myself. As far as missing the other nine shots, it's alright, as long as that one went in."
Despite Orr having missed all three of her previous tries from beyond the arc in the game, no one was surprised when she took a pass from Hilary Howard, dribbled outside the arc and launched a three-point try with 30 seconds on the clock.
Indeed, Orr has a history of late-game heroics. In the 1995 ACC Tournament, she hit two buzzer-beaters to oust Virginia. This season, her fallaway 25-footer with two seconds left in regulation sent Duke's game against N.C. State to overtime.
Thus, it should have been expected that Orr's shot settled quietly into the bottom of the net.
"When Kira hit that big three, all of the sudden, I felt like we were going to win the game," Duke coach Gail Goestenkors said. "Once we hit that shot, everything loosened up for us."
Without a player of Orr's caliber on the court, the Terrapins squandered their 30 second possession by aimlessly working the ball around the perimeter before Bretz's desperation heave drew nothing but air.
Not content with merely tying a game, Orr jump-started the team in overtime as well, setting up post player Payton Black for the first two points of overtime on a pinpoint pass inside. The senior guard then iced the game with four free throws in the last 30 seconds of overtime.
Against top-seeded UNC Saturday, the Blue Devils other than Orr combined to shoot 32% from the field. So Orr decided to put the team's offensive load on her shoulders.
From the 11:15 to the 3:09 mark in the second half, Orr scored 13 of Duke's 15 points and singlehandedly kept her team in the ball game.
"Not only does [Orr] do it in the tournament, but I've seen other games that they've played," UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell said of Orr's clutch play. "She loves major competition. She plays her best when's she's against major competition."
Fortunately for Hatchell, she has a couple of great players of her own to call upon. Though the Tar Heels' All-American candidates Jones and Reid only shot a combined 14-of-41, they made two plays that changed the complexion of the game.
Trailing by only four points with more than five minutes left, the Blue Devils were putting together a mini-run as the Tar Heels tossed up another one of their many misses on the day. Black boxed out Reid and grabbed the rebound with two hands. From nowhere, Reid leapt up with one hand, ripped the ball away from Black, and in one motion, turned and converted an easy layup.
"I've been coaching for 22 years and one of the most incredible things I've seen is when [Reid] snagged that rebound," Hatchell said.
Behind Orr, Duke eventually trimmed the lead back to one and held possession with three minutes left, when the Tar Heels' other star, Jones, made her imprint on the game.
Jones flashed into the lane and intercepted Naz Medhanie's entry pass, raced coast-to-coast, drew the foul from Medhanie and flipped in the layup. Her ensuing free throw extended the UNC lead to four and seemed to sap the energy of the Blue Devils as they were outscored 8-1 the rest of the game.
"[Jones] is a tremendous defensive player, the best defensive player in the conference and perhaps the country," Goestenkors said. "I felt that really changed the momentum of the game."
In tournament-type games, those select few 'great' players are capable of changing the momentum of a contest at any time.
If the Blue Devils are to advance in the NCAA Tournament, they must dance with the ones who brought them there, and rely on the players who have proven their tenacity and play-making ability-their greatness, specifically, Tye Hall and Orr.
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