UNC women edge WFU

By: JournalNow Staff | The Associated Press
Published: January 30, 2012

Tierra Ruffin-Pratt scored 19 of her 21 points in the second half, and No. 25 North Carolina finally took command late to beat Wake Forest 75-71 in Joel Coliseum on Sunday.

Ruffin-Pratt had plenty of help from Laura Broomfield and Chay Shegog to help North Carolina (16-5, 6-2 ACC) win its fourth straight. Broomfield came off the bench to finish with 20 points and 18 rebounds, and Shegog added 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Tar Heels, who struggled in the first half and trailed by one point at halftime.

"We didn't start off real well," coach Sylvia Hatchell of UNC said. "Our rebounding wasn't that good, so we really emphasized that at halftime. Thanks to (Broomfield and Shegog), we got on the boards really good in the second half."

The Deacons (12-9, 2-6) forced the Tar Heels into 11 first-half turnovers and held a 23-16 rebounding advantage. That allowed Wake Forest to score the game's first eight points and lead three other times in the half, the last at 34-33 on Lindsy Wright's layup with 2.1 seconds left.

"They were doubling down some on Chey," Hatchell said. "We also weren't cutting to the basket, and they were mixing up their defenses. But in the second half, we started attacking better against their press."

The Tar Heels turned things around in the second half, finishing with a 44-38 rebounding edge. That included 16 offensive boards, 13 coming in the final 20 minutes that led to 18 second-chance points in the half and 23 for the game.

"Their first shots weren't beating us, their second shots did," coach Mike Petersen of Wake Forest said. "It's very difficult to beat a team when they're getting 75 percent of their misses back."

Still, Wake Forest stayed in contention in the second half, tying the score six times and swapping the lead 11 times behind Lakevia Boykin, who scored 19 of her 21 points in the second half. It was Boykin's layup that gave the Deacons a 65-60 lead — their biggest of the second half — with 4:07 remaining.

However, Broomfield hit a layup, followed by Ruffin-Pratt's three-point play to tie the game with 2:55 left. Ruffin-Pratt then hit another layup with 2:06 remaining to put North Carolina ahead 67-65.

Shegog's three-point play extended the Tar Heels' lead to 70-65, and Wake Forest would pull no closer than two points the rest of the way in losing to a Top 25 opponent for the fifth time this season.

"This was a winnable game against a very good team," Petersen said. "We played pretty well; we just didn't play well enough to beat North Carolina."

Chelsea Douglas added 13 points and Secily Ray 11 for Wake Forest, which will face another Top 25 opponent — No. 5 Duke — on Thursday.