Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 8, 1994 TAG: 9403080112
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCK HILL, S.C. LENGTH: Medium
Fifth-ranked North Carolina, whose only two losses during the regular-season were to the Cavaliers, grabbed a 13-point lead at halftime Monday night and defeated No. 8 Virginia 77-60 in the ACC tournament championship game at the Winthrop Coliseum.
It was the second ACC title and the first since 1984 for the Tar Heels, who prevented Virginia from taking a record-tying third consecutive championship. It was only the second loss for the Cavaliers in their past 28 games against ACC opposition.
Virginia (25-4) could not recover from a dreadful first half in which it shot 30.8 percent (8-of-26), committed 13 turnovers and was outrebounded 26-15. The Tar Heels led 33-20 despite shooting 41.2 percent (14-of-34).
After North Carolina (27-2) stretched its lead to 35-20 on a basket by Charlotte Smith to start the second half, UVa scored six points in a row to cut the deficit to nine points. But the Cavaliers drew no closer.
Smith, one of two Tar Heels to dunk in pregame warmups, was equally dazzling once the game started. Smith, a 6-foot junior who is the niece of former North Carolina State All-American David Thompson, had a game-high 25 points and was voted the tournament's most valuable player.
"Charlotte was excellent tonight," Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said. "She really bothered us. If you look at the first two games, she really wasn't a factor."
In the first game between the teams this season, Smith had eight points before fouling out. The Cavaliers won that one 77-75 in Chapel Hill, N.C. In the second game, she scored 20 in Virginia's 83-74 win in Charlottesville.
"I think it was just a matter of getting her the ball," Tar Heels coach Sylvia Hatchell said. "In the other two games, we didn't get her the ball. When she gets it going offensively, it also motivates her defensively."
The night belonged not only to Smith but to Hatchell, who carried a 1-17 record against Virginia into Monday's game. It also belonged to seniors Sylvia Crawley and Tonya Sampson, who as freshmen played on a Carolina team that went 2-12 in the ACC in 1990-91.
"I told [the players] before they went out tonight that I wanted Tonya and Sylvia to have nets they could have for the rest of their lives for winning the championship," Hatchell said. "These two played against since Virginia their freshman year when we were last in the conference."
Crawley, who hit the winning shot Sunday in the Tar Heels' 64-63 semifinal victory over Clemson, was 7-of-12 Monday and finished with 17 points and five rebounds. Sampson had 13 points, nine rebounds and five assists.
"My most outstanding accomplishment was that I finished with no fouls," said Crawley, a 6-foot-5 center, who fouled out of both regular-season games with UVa after playing 27 and 25 minutes.
Suber, the ACC rookie of the year, had a game-high 14 points for Virginia but was only 5-of-17 from the floor and committed five turnovers.
After playing a big part in both regular-season victories, with 29 and 24 points, she was clearly out of sync Monday.
"That's an understatement," said Ryan, who repeatedly called Suber to the bench and tried every approach to get her on track. "I think I told her everything in the basketball encyclopedia. Unfortunately, Tora played like a freshman, and that's only the second time I've seen that.
"Tora looked visibly nervous before the game, and she looked very, very nervous once it started. She did so many things that were out of character. I think our best post players did their best under the circumstances, but our guards [Suber and sophomore Jenny Boucek] were very, very timid."
Outside of Wendy Palmer, none of UVa's post players distinguished themselves in the first half.
"I wasn't very pleased with the effort in the first half because [the problem] was defense and rebounding," Ryan said. "I said coming into the tournament that I was worried because we haven't played good games back-to-back. Needless to say, we haven't played good games back-to-back-to-back."
The Cavaliers' lack of aggressiveness was evident from a season-low eight free-throw attempts. In the previous two games against Carolina, UVa had 40 and 32 attempts, respectively, a source of contention for Hatchell.
"We tried a lot of different things to motivate the team," she said. "But I think the players were more relaxed tonight than for the whole tournament. They'd already accomplished one of their goals, which was just to get a chance to play Virginia."
by CNB