It was a simple desire she had held onto from her hospital bed, made public through her Twitter account about two and a half hours before the North Carolina women’s basketball team tipped off Wednesday night.
Coach Sylvia Hatchell had been looking forward to it all day.
“Hello all you Tar Heel fans,” her tweet read.
“I cannot wait to watch a live stream/video of my (team) in action tonight at 6 p.m. as they take on Carson-Newman.”
Hatchell, who was recently diagnosed with leukemia, was unable to attend UNC’s opening exhibition game. But with her team’s 111-50 drubbing of Carson-Newman to cherish, associate head coach Andrew Calder said he knew Hatchell would be proud — regardless of where she was.
“I understand she shaved her head right before the game and put ‘Go Tar Heels’ on it,” he said.
The Eagles honored Hatchell, an alumna of Carson-Newman, donning warm-up T-shirts that read “Hoops 4 Hatchell” on the front and “Our coach, family and friend” on the back.
But once the jump ball was tossed, The Tar Heels quickly took command of the contest.
UNC trailed only once, 51 seconds into the game, and took a permanent lead 21 seconds later.