Tar Heels Regroup, Hope for Home Game

The North Carolina women's basketball team entered the ACC Tournament last weekend knowing it needed a win or two to bolster its chances for hosting a sub-regional in the soon-approaching NCAA tournament.

Two victories and a title-game loss to top-seeded Duke later, the Tar Heels

(24-8) now find themselves in the purgatory between the conference tourney and the NCAA selection committee's decision.

The committee won't announce the brackets until Sunday, and the Tar Heels' first-round game -- their first appearance in the tourney since 2000 -- isn't until next Thursday or Friday.

So, UNC will have nearly a week and a half to think about its next game.

"It's tough," said senior point guard Nikki Teasley. "(You can) never get complacent or content with yourself or be satisfied. You have to work hard, even though you have time off.

"Obviously, we don't have a spring break. We get a couple of days off and then we got to come back and work out and practice."

Following their 87-80 loss Monday, the Tar Heels identified a couple of weaknesses exposed by the Blue Devils.

First, Duke found success in the lane when North Carolina's help defenders failed to rotate. The Blue Devils' Monique Currie, who scored a career-high 30, consistently beat her defender off the dribble and drove, uncontested, to the hoop.

Second, the Tar Heels struggled after freshman guard Leah Metcalf strained her right shoulder in Saturday's 78-53 win against Maryland. Metcalf played only nine minutes against State on Sunday and was tentative at times in a

2-for-6 performance against Duke.

"If Leah could've been at full strength, it would have definitely made a difference," said UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell of Metcalf, who had an MRI on her shoulder Monday. "She can hit the 3, she can drive, she can do all those things. She was the missing piece."

And with Metcalf out of the game, UNC lacked another outside shooter to complement Teasley and Coretta Brown. Duke went to a triangle-and-two zone that essentially dared the Tar Heels' forwards to shoot the outside shot.

More often than not, they missed. Nikita Bell, Kenya McBee and Chrystal Baptist combined on a 6-for-26 night from the floor.

Still, Hatchell said she thinks UNC's 10-3 finish will help it be a host site for the first two rounds, especially since the three losses came to No. 4 Duke.

"I'm real hopeful that we will get a home court," she said. "I can tell you, there'll be a lot of one and two seeds that would not want us to be in their bracket."

The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu.