WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
UNC - 92
Boston College - 68
CHESTNUT HILL Mass. — It wasn't quite the start North Carolina had hoped for. With ice-cold shooting touches and butterfingers all around" the Tar Heels fell behind Boston College 18-6 early.
""They came out really smoking and making shots and playing good defense"" UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell said. It gave us some trouble there early on. But we tried to heat up our defensive pressure a little bit and get our transition game going a little bit more.""
Add to the slow offensive start the fact that senior starter Iman McFarland left the game with a concussion after less than two minutes of action" and the No. 10 Tar Heels had to have been wondering what else could go wrong.
Not a lot else did.
And the bench players who replaced McFarland put in what might have been the best reserve minutes of the season helping UNC to a 92-68 victory.
Six North Carolina non-starters scored in the game" accounting for 30 percent of the Tar Heels' points.
""It's a wonderful feeling knowing that if people aren't producing that someone can come in and hit shots like (Christina Dewitt) came in and did"" said Cetera DeGraffenreid, who scored 18 points and was a perfect 10-10 at the charity stripe.
During one spurt in the first half, the backups made their presence felt in a big way. After keeping the ball alive and knocking it off a BC defender, Dewitt hit a 15-footer off the ensuing inbounds pass.
And after a Heather Claytor putback tied the score on the next possession, Dewitt sank a 3-pointer to give UNC (23-4, 8-3 ACC) a 26-23 lead — its first advantage since a 4-3 score early in the game.
I've been practicing a lot on my shot" Dewitt said. They played off of me" so I have a lot of confidence that I can shoot and knock down that 3-pointer.""
Eventually the Tar Heel starters found their touches as well. And when that happened" any chances the Eagles (18-8 6-5) had of pulling off the upset disappeared.
Four UNC starters picked up double figures led by Rashanda McCants' 19 points.
The Tar Heels went into the halftime locker room sporting a 42-37 lead thanks in large part to an 11-3 run to end the period. Boston College's only bucket in that stretch came with all zeroes on the clock as Jaclyn Thoman hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.
And when the second half started UNC pulled away for good with stellar defensive play and an established up-and-down tempo.
Coaching against two of her former players — BC's head coach is 1994 Final Four MVP Sylvia Crawley" and fellow '94 NCAA champion Stephanie Lawrence Yelton is an assistant — Hatchell knew the Eagles' players would mirror their coaches' attitudes on the floor.
""Those ladies represent this University in an extremely first-class manner" Hatchell said.
Crawley saw that respect late in the game when she believed Hatchell called off the dogs with the game in hand.
I felt like she did us a favor" Crawley said. They could have very easily scored 100 points tonight.""
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
