CHARLOTTE - Round three goes to the Tar Heels.
After splitting their two meetings during the regular season, No. 9 North Carolina took out regular-season Atlantic Coast Conference champion Duke, 56-52, in the semifinals of the ACC Women's Basketball Tournament Saturday afternoon at Charlotte's Independence Arena.
Trailing for most of the game, the Tar Heels appeared to be in danger of letting the game slip away after star forward Tracy Reid picked up her fourth foul with 9:18 left in the game. A three-pointer by Duke's Nicole Erickson on the ensuing possession gave the No. 8 Blue Devils their largest lead of the game at 41-34.
Following a TV timeout, Carolina's freshmen stepped to the forefront. Nikki Teasley's driving layup sparked a 10-0 run that featured six straight points by classmate Juana Brown. After several minutes and six consecutive missed shots by Duke, Reid checked back into the game with her team ahead 44-41.
"In the past, I haven't been an offensive threat at all," said Brown, whose heroics came after she went down hard clutching her right elbow several minutes into the second half. "I do think I tend to look towards Tracy or Nikki or Chanel, and I looked and I was like, 'This is it, this is the ACC Tournament. It's time. You're not a rookie anymore, you have to step up and take some responsibilities.'"
Duke took one more lead at 52-51 with 1:21 to go on a layup by Rochelle Parent. But Brown was there again for UNC, hitting a baseline jumper to give her team the lead for good with under a minute to play. Reid sealed the deal by swiping the ball from Peppi Browne the next time down the floor on a play that left Duke's bench and fans clamoring for Reid's fifth foul.
"I thought it was a foul, but it's not our call," Browne said. "Obviously, we're not refs. They happened to get the ball after that play-nothing else we can really do about that."
Brown finished the game with 12 points, 10 of which came after the break. Teasley scored 11 of her team-high 13 points in the first half, while Reid turned in a double-double with 11 points and 10 boards despite being held in check by Browne and the Duke defense for most of the game.
Hilary Howard led all scorers with 14 points but was limited to a single three-pointer in the second half. Erickson and Georgia Schweitzer added 10 points apiece for the Blue Devils.
Tenacious offensive rebounding kept North Carolina afloat during an 8-for-30 shooting performance in the first half. Duke didn't fare much better at 9-for-28 but did hit 6-of-11 three-point attempts. Together, the two teams combined for 20 turnovers and only four assists en route to a 24-24 halftime score.
"I think it was an ugly game on both sides, but I think both teams played very hard," Duke coach Gail Goestenkors said. "Both teams played great defense, so I think that made it look ugly, except they were a little less ugly than we were."
Hard work on the offensive glass continued to pay off for UNC in the second half when the Tar Heels pulled down as many boards at Duke's end of the court as the Blue Devils. Several Carolina possessions featured mutiple chances for putbacks that eventually ended up as two points.
"In the second half, they had 10 offensive rebounds to our two," Goestenkors said. "They did such a great job on the boards. They're so good, you can't give them second opportunities at the basket."
Compounding the Blue Devils' problems in the paint was poor shooting by post players. Duke's Payton Black, Michele VanGorp and Lauren Rice shot a combined 1-for-15 from the floor.
Neither team had much trouble advancing to the semifinal showdown. Despite an anticipated tough matchup with fifth-seeded Virginia, UNC breezed by the Cavaliers, 76-56. Duke had an even easier time in the first round, ambushing Georgia Tech with a 17-3 run to start the game and rolling to a 100-56 win. It was the largest margin of victory and most points scored for Duke in an ACC Tournament game.
Black led all scorers with 23 points on 10-of-12 shooting with Howard and Erickson adding 17 each.
With the tournament over for the Blue Devils, their postseason now becomes a waiting game. The top four seeds in each region of the Women's NCAA Tournament play the first two rounds at home. Even after being bounced by UNC, it remains a fairly safe bet that Duke's season will continue in the familar confines of Cameron Indoor Stadium.
For now, though, all the team can do is return to Durham and practice until the selection night of Mar. 8.
"If we can't make a righthanded layup, we don't deserve to win the game," Goestenkors said. "One for 15, that's not the mark of a championship team. It's very frustrating, [but] we'll be working on that over the next two weeks."
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