Hatchell makes emotional return to the court

The image of the North Carolina women’s basketball team’s bench prior to the Tar Heels’ 88-27 win over Carson-Newman on Wednesday night was one all too similar to last season.

As the team prepared to exit its locker room in Carmichael Arena and take the floor to perform layup drills, the UNC coaching staff sat along the bench — except for Hall of Fame head coach Sylvia Hatchell.

The cast that dotted the white folding chairs was the same group that carried UNC to an Elite Eight appearance in last year’s NCAA Tournament, as Hatchell was forced to sit out the entire season after being diagnosed with leukemia.

But after the team proceeded to sprint out of the locker and begin its pre-game drills, out from behind a crowd of people came Hatchell. Waiving to the crowd as she walked over to stand next to associate head coach Andrew Calder, an orange, leukemia-awareness ribbon could be seen pinned to her chest.

A year ago to the day after shaving her head due to the amount of hair she was losing, Hatchell returned to the UNC sidelines and — like she’s done 636 times during her career as UNC’s head coach — led the Tar Heels to victory.

“Man, it’s unbelievable a difference a year makes,” said a choked-up Hatchell.

Although her absence from the sidelines was lengthy, Hatchell didn’t take long to hop back into the coaching saddle. As soon as the ref stepped to the center of the floor to toss up the opening jump ball, Hatchell was already in the ear of sophomore forward Stephanie Mavunga — telling her which direction to tip the ball.

Hatchell’s voice continued to echo across the arena as she instructed her players to get in position on both ends of the floor. And after freshman guard Jamie Cherry entered the game for the first time in a UNC uniform and picked up a foul seconds after subbing in, Hatchell could be heard yelling, “Behave yourself, Jamie.”

Behind Hatchell’s voice, UNC marched out to a 37-14 lead at halftime. But as the Tar Heels came out of the locker room, Hatchell said she decided to tone it down a little bit in order to allow her team to simply play basketball.

“I think in the first half I was maybe trying to talk too them too much and said, ‘Sometimes you’ve just got to let them loose. You’ve got to let them play,’” Hatchell said. “And I thought we did a bit more of that in the second half. I was just enjoying just sitting there and watching them play.”

After a strong first-half finish by sophomores Allisha Gray and Mavunga — who combined for the final 15 points of the half for the Tar Heels — UNC jumped out to a 46-16 lead, as senior guard Brittany Roundtree dished a cross-court pass to Mavunga for a layup to cap a 24-6 run by the Tar Heels.

UNC’s second-half surge continued as the Tar Heels continued to shut down the Eagles on offense and forced 15 turnovers.

Gray, who led all scorers with 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting and forced three steals, said Hatchell sparked the team’s increased effort on the defensive side of the ball.

“The second half, we really played Carolina defense the way it’s supposed to be played,” Gray said. “The first half, everybody was trying to get the little jitters out. In the second half, Coach Hatchell got to us and was like, ‘We play Carolina defense, get up to them.' And it showed, when we run our defense right, the results are turnovers and layups.”

Wednesday night not only marked Hatchell’s return to the sidelines, but also the first time Gray, Mavunga and the rest of UNC's sophomores had the chance to play for the legendary coach.

Gray said she couldn’t have been happier to be able to glance over and see Hatchell standing by the bench.

“I couldn’t do nothing but smile, because I’m so happy she’s back, and I can definitely tell the difference with her being back,” Gray said.

But for a team defined by experience, Hatchell’s return was more than welcome to the seven members of the team who still remain from the 2012-13 season.

Junior forward Xylina McDaniel, who finished with 15 points, said that having Hatchell on the bench motivates the team to perform at its highest level.

“Having Coach back is like having our mother back,” she said with a huge grin and a laugh. “It’s just good just having her there. You feel that warmth. Coach Hatchell really is like our mother since we’re all away from home. Not having her last year really showed us that we needed to appreciate her more. Just hearing her voice and just being able to look over there and see her, it just puts a smile on all of our faces.

“She pushes us to work harder — she doesn’t even have to say it. It’s the fact that she’s here, and she’s coaching us, so we’re not going to waste our time. We’re going to work as hard as we can just to make her happy. It was really good just having her back.”

sports@dailytarheel.com