CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — MSU and North Carolina, the top two seeds of the Chapel Hill region, were on opposite sides of the coin Sunday night.
The No. 4 seed Spartans were potent both offensively and defensively, bullying No. 12 seed Hampton to a 91-61 win with strong performances from redshirt freshman Aerial Powers, who had 26 points and 18 rebounds, and senior Annalise Pickrel, who scored 21 points and was perfect from the field and the free throw line.
No. 5 seed UNC came within minutes of falling to No. 13 seed Tennessee-Martin, which led by as many as 18 in the second half. The Tar Heels closed the game on an improbable 28-8 run and escaped Carmichael Arena with a 60-58 victory.
UNC also will be dealing with another factor on the sidelines. Assistant coach Andrew Calder will continue to handle head coaching duties given the season-long absence of head coach Sylvia Hatchell as she battles cancer.
Momentum certainly is a factor in the NCAA Tournament, and the Spartans should have plenty based on the fashion in which they dominated the opening game.
But the ACC is perhaps the most fearsome conference in women’s basketball, and North Carolina survived a league led by Notre Dame, which completed its first undefeated regular season in the 37-year history of the program.
Regardless of how it happened, both teams made it out of the first round. The Spartans are aware that UNC is a better team than the UNC that played on Sunday, and will enter Tuesday’s 7 p.m. second-round game prepared for a battle.
“I just think that their defense really came alive there down the stretch and forced some composure issues and it just put UT-Martin in a position where they couldn’t score the ball,” head coach Suzy Merchant said. “They got their transition game going, then also their rebounding put-back situations. Both those things came to life down that stretch.”
Tonight, the Spartans will play a Tar Heel team that finished No. 12 in regular season rankings and held its own in a stacked conference despite being led by a trio of freshmen.
The Tar Heels are led by National Freshman of the Year Diamond DeShields, who averages 19.8 points per game and 6.1 rebounds per game. DeShields shot 3-of-12 against UT-Martin, but made all nine of her free throws.
DeShields leads an athletic UNC offense that is particularly adept at the transition game. For MSU to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time in five seasons, it will have to win the rebounding battle against the host Tar Heels and slow down the pace.
“That’s going to be huge for us,” senior guard Klarissa Bell said. “If we can play defense and rebound, then we can push the ball in transition like we like to do, I don’t know if that’s the game plan or not. But if we play defense and rebound, that’s going to be monumental for us.”
