UNC hangs on to beat Louisville

• By LES EAST
• Special to The Advocate
• Published: Mar 30, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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NEW ORLEANS — Top-seeded North Carolina fell behind by 18 points, got out rebounded by 12, and committed 25 turnovers against fourth-seeded Louisville.

But the Tar Heels’ relentless pressure, trapping defense, and superior balance and depth ultimately wore down the feisty Cardinals, 78-74, in the opening game of the NCAA New Orleans Regional on Saturday afternoon at the New Orleans Arena.

North Carolina (33-2) will play second-seeded LSU, a 67-52 winner over third-seeded Oklahoma State, in the regional final Monday night. Louisville (26-10) was making its first appearance in a regional.

“The strength of our team,” Tar Heels coach Sylvia Hatchell said, “is our balance and depth, and in order to win a game like we did today you’ve got to have that.”

Four Tar Heels scored in double figures, and forward Erlana Larkins, who averages 14 points, wasn’t one of them, scoring just seven, but grabbing 12 rebounds. Center LaToya Pringle became the first option inside as Larkins made just 2-of-12 shots, and she responded with 27 points and 11 rebounds. Cetera DeGraffenreid scored 13, McCants had 12, and Jessica Breland 11.

The Cardinals had an outstanding one-two punch in forwards Angel McCoughtry (35 points, 13 rebounds, and three steals) and Candyce Bingham (17 points, three steals, and a regional round record-tying 20 rebounds).

But only one other Cardinal — center Chauntise Wright (13) — scored in double figures and no one else had more than five rebounds.

“She’s an amazing player, the best player I’ve played against this year because she can do it all,” Carolina’s Rashanda McCants said of McCoughtry. “It’s hard to contain her because she’s such a great athlete. You just trail her and hope she misses, and try to wear her down. One player can’t win a game, but she tried.”

In a game filled with eye-opening numbers, none stood out more than the free-throw statistics.

“We were six for 10 and they were 25 for 44, there’s not much more I have to say,” said Cardinals coach Jeff Walz, who was called for a technical foul midway through the second half and questioned the officials throughout.

“In order to beat Carolina, you have to find a way to get to the free-throw line. Unfortunately, we could not find that way.”

Louisville found a way to do just about everything else in the early going as it took a 37-19 lead behind McCoughtry’s 18 points.

“We weren’t down and out,” Pringle said. “Our goal was to get it down to 10 at halftime and we did that.”