ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 28, 1997 TAG: 9701280083
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
THE CAVS COME BACK from 16 points down in the second half, only to fall short.
Everybody had to know the ball was going to Tracy Reid when North Carolina took the floor after its final timeout Monday night.
And it did. But, not necessarily by design.
Reid, the third option on the play, found herself alone under the basket and made a layup with 2.4 seconds left to put sixth-ranked Carolina ahead of No. 8 Virginia in women's basketball.
Reid added a pair of free throws with 1.2 seconds remaining to provide the final margin in a 75-71 Tar Heels victory and tie the school scoring record with 41 points. (Box score in Scoreboard. B4)
``Incredible!'' said Sylvia Hatchell, North Carolina's coach. ``Tracy's just a big-time player. At halftime, she was 100 percent [from the field] and she even banked in a 3-pointer.''
That might have been the sign that, finally, it would be Hatchell's night at Virginia. In 11 seasons as the Tar Heels' coach, Hatchell was 2-21 at Virginia and 0-11 at University Hall.
``It's going to be a lot nicer on the ride home,'' said Hatchell, who could not remember a time when Carolina had come close to winning at Virginia. ``There were a lot of other ones when we left here questioning ourselves.''
It was the 10th consecutive victory for the Tar Heels (17-1 overall, 8-0 ACC), but not without seeing the Cavaliers (14-4, 7-2) erase a 16-point deficit in less than 51/2 minutes.
Virginia, which trailed 65-49 with 6:42 remaining, pulled ahead 68-67 on a steal and layup by freshman guard Renee Robinson with 1:15 remaining. It was UVa's only lead of the game.
Reid, who scored Carolina's last 11 points, put the Tar Heels on top 71-68 with a jumper and two free throws before closely guarded Tora Suber hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to make it 71-71 with 22.7 seconds left.
If Suber hadn't played such good defense on the ensuing possession, the teams might have gone to overtime. Marion Jones had 3 inches on Suber, who is 5 feet 7, but was unable to take her to the hoop.
The second option was to drive to the wing and set a screen for a 3-pointer. Jones handed the ball to point guard Jessica Gaspar, who had no shot and drove from the left wing into the lane.
``They had to go to the wing, which we wanted,'' said Debbie Ryan, UVa's coach. ``Then, Gaspar had to go to her weak [left] hand, which we wanted. I can't remember who was on Reid at the time. It may have been Tiffany [Bower].
``First of all, I told the team not to focus on the last play. We should focus on what we did. Obviously, we buried ourselves a couple of times and, yet, we kept coming back.''
Virginia was forced to play catch-up virtually the whole night. The Cavaliers didn't score until their 10th possession and trailed 10-0 with more than five minutes elapsed.
``A nightmare,'' Ryan called it. ``I felt, if we could get on the board, we would be OK. But, we couldn't get on the board. Everything was just a little too fast. Halftime couldn't get there soon enough.''
Carolina had taken its biggest lead of the night, 45-28, before Suber hit a 3-pointer before the half. That turned out to be a precursor for the second half, when she matched Reid basket for basket.
Suber, who had scored as many as 20 points only twice in Virginia's first 17 games, had 20 in the second half and finished with a career-high 35. She was 6-of-13 from 3-point range.
The Cavaliers did most of their damage with leading scorer Monick Foote on the bench. Foote picked up three fouls in the first half and was limited to 20 minutes and four points.
LENGTH: Medium: 71 linesby CNB