Women's Hoops Blog

Inane commentary on a game that deserves far better


Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Like North Carolina, Baylor is blessed with a roster of remarkably athletic women. Unlike North Carolina, Baylor played last night with a game plan and an actual half-court offense.

The Bears kept the Heels from running, and the Heels just couldn't score. Baylor punched its first-ever ticket to the Final Four.

"Coaches coach a lifetime and never reach a Final Four," Kim Mulkey-Robertson said. "Coaches have expectations sometimes and don't live up to it, and players are the same. For this basketball team to honestly do what we have done in five years, it just caught up with me. My excitement is tears of joy. There's no greater feeling in the world."

Erlana Larkins, UNC's leading scorer, was held to just six points. "We took away her game," Sophia Young said. "I think we got in her mind."

Ivory Latta was unable to run past Chelsea Whitaker for most of the night. Whitaker left with the win, but she wasn't too happy about Latta's flopping.
She flopped twice. I know when I charge, and I make it hurt if I am going to get a charge. She just flopped, and I guess that's what she thought she needed to do to win. And (the official) bit. She was laying on the floor like she just got her throat lacerated or something. I didn't touch that girl. I know when I foul and don't have a problem with it. But whatever. Who cares?
It was a disappointing end for UNC, whose late-season hot streak came to an abrupt end.

"There's not much to say," La'Tangela Atkinson said. "I'm just upset that we're going home. There's nothing that I can really say. I feel terrible because we're going home. I wish we were going to the Final Four, but it didn't work out that way."