UNC women's basketball finds high assist total key to offensive effciency

Three minutes into the second half, Chay Shegog caught a pass at the free throw line and turned to see what the defense had allotted her.

She figured it out pretty quickly.

Instead of using her 6-foot-5 frame to get a shot off over the defense, Shegog took a step back and zipped a pass to a streaking Laura Broomfield for the easy deuce.

“Usually when I flash up to the high post I read the defense behind me first, and if I know they are far behind me, I’m shooting,” Shegog said. “But if not, then it’s an open cut for somebody else, because then the backside is wide open.”

Shegog’s dime was just one of many for the Tar Heels in a game where they worked harder at making the extra pass to get a much easier shot.

Before Sunday, North Carolina averaged only 15.1 assists per game. But the Tar Heels rekindled their court vision and dished out 24 assists against the Eagles, the second highest total for UNC all season.

“It’s (important) that we move the ball around, get ball reversal, look for the cutters and not get stagnated with holding the basketball,” UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell said. “I think that’s big.”

Later in the second half, UNC freshman Tierra Ruffin-Pratt had the ball on the left side of the three-point line. While she held it high and looked for an option, Shegog snuck in behind the defense and under the rim.

Then, like a conditioned response, Ruffin-Pratt delivered a quick pass over the defense and into the hands of Shegog for an easy layup.

UNC’s passes were deliberate and its assists were crisp. Hatchell attributed it to the time the team spent practicing after losing in the first round of the ACC Tournament.

“We worked a lot on our half court offenses, our motion and our movement and all of that,” she said. “I thought we had real good movement out there today.”

And everyone seemed to improve from those practices. Most of UNC’s assists Sunday afternoon didn’t come from its usual contributors.

Ruffin-Pratt and fellow freshman Krista Gross, who average a combined 1.62 assists per game, made it look easy at times and weaved numerous passes through the often oblivious Eagles defense.

“Even though they don’t score a lot of points, Ruffin-Pratt had seven assists and Krista had three,” Hatchell said. “Most of those were from those cuts in the middle of the zone there.”

Regardless of the Tar Heels’ future games, which will likely include a trip to the NCAA Tournament, it’s clear that making the extra pass will be key.

In the eight games this season that UNC recorded more than 20 assists, the Tar Heels are 8-0 and outscored their opponents by an average of 37.5 points.

And if there’s ever a good time to understand the importance of ball movement, UNC knows this is it.

“I think they see that,” Hatchell said. “They know that, they’ve seen it on film and today is a perfect example of that.”



Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.