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The Daily Tar Heel

Tar Heels fear vengeful, top-seeded South Carolina

The women’s basketball team will play in Greensboro Friday

The Women's basketball team took down Liberty Saturday afternoon to advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament.
The Women's basketball team took down Liberty Saturday afternoon to advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament.

As the North Carolina women’s basketball team took on South Carolina in the Sweet 16, Hatchell — forced from traveling with the Tar Heels to Stanford, California due to leukemia — watched the game on TV, jumping around and throwing objects across the room as she rooted UNC to a 65-58 victory.

Now, almost a year to the day, the fourth-seeded Tar Heels and top-seeded Gamecocks will face off once again today in the Sweet 16 of the Greensboro Region. And Hatchell knows UNC’s foe from across the border could be the force of such furnisher-punishing frustration once again.

“I don’t really see any weaknesses,” Hatchell said. “Our kids have to really step up and play to a really, really high level.”

The Tar Heels (26-8, 10-6 ACC) and Gamecocks (32-2, 15-1 SEC) are set for their third meeting since December 2013, and UNC has won both contests.

But the familiarities between the teams spawn from much more than their recent games. Both rosters combined are comprised of 17 players from across the neighboring states, with the Tar Heels boasting three players from South Carolina — including two starters.

“It’s always a fun game to play in,” said senior guard Latifah Coleman, who is from Pageland, S.C. “A lot of talk back home about the whole going to North Carolina and not going to South Carolina thing, so it’s always a pretty good game for me.”

The Gamecocks earned their second consecutive No. 1 seed this season and have only lost two games since suffering their season-ending defeat to UNC in the 2013-14 season.

South Carolina enters Friday’s game as the No. 14 scoring offense in the NCAA and No. 8 scoring defense, and they’ve been preparing for Friday’s rematch all season.

“Just ready for it. Just ready for me and my teammates to go out and prove what we should have proved last year,” said South Carolina guard Khadijah Sessions.

The Tar Heels know what this feeling is like. Following UNC’s victory over South Carolina in 2014, Stanford eliminated the Tar Heels in the Elite 8.

UNC avenged its loss to the Cardinal in November, removing the sour taste in the players’ mouths. And the Tar Heels know that’s what the Gamecocks will be determined to do on Friday.

“They are going to be out to get us,” said sophomore forward Stephanie Mavunga. “They are going to play with a chip on their shoulder just because we ended their season last year.”

sports@dailytarheel.com

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