Sun Devils burned

Facing an early 10-point road deficit, top-seeded North Carolina needed an offensive spark to quiet Arizona State’s yellow-clad crowd and bring the Tar Heels back within striking distance.

Would that spark be Ivory Latta? Nikita Bell? Erlana Larkins? Camille Little?

It’s doubtful that even Coach Sylvia Hatchell would have guessed that La’Tangela Atkinson — known primarily for her defense and rebounding — would have ignited the struggling North Carolina attack.

Atkinson scored seven of the team’s next 11 points to cut the Sun Devil margin to one, and UNC regained the lead shortly thereafter, holding on to defeat fifth-seeded ASU 79-72 at Wells Fargo Arena on Saturday to advance to Monday’s NCAA Tournament regional final against Baylor.

But securing UNC’s third-ever Elite Eight berth — and first since 1998 — was far from easy. Playing before a boisterous crowd of 8,213 — nearly all of which was cheering for the hometown favorite — ASU (24-10) quickly overcame a 6-0 hole to lead 20-10, thanks to an impressive display of outside shooting.

After Hatchell called a timeout, Atkinson, who had returned to the game after picking up two early fouls, quickly converted a baseline drive into a three-point play. A minute later, the junior

guard converted a 14-foot jumper, a rarity for a player Hatchell has urged to become more aggressive on the offensive end of the floor.

“During warmups, I was focused on my shot,” said Atkinson, who finished with a timely 14 points and five steals.

“It was focusing on making the shots and doing the things that I needed to do to keep me going for the game. When I came out in the game, I didn’t hesitate. I started out open, so I shot it, and they fell for me.”

The shots continued to fall for Atkinson early in the second half after ASU scored the first four points after the break to tie the game at 46.

She converted a putback on a missed free throw by Bell to regain the lead for the Tar Heels. After Sun Devils guard Kylan Loney retied the game with a successful midrange jump shot, Atkinson drained a 3-pointer on UNC’s next possession, her first 3 of the tournament.

Atkinson and freshman forward Larkins — who finished with 18 points and 14 rebounds — helped UNC (30-3) compensate for injury woes to Latta, its star point guard.

The sophomore battled an eye injury throughout the game — struggling with her left contact lens and forcing Hatchell to put senior guard Leah Metcalf in control of some of Latta’s ball-handling duties.

Metcalf finished with three assists to just one turnover in her 28 minutes.

“Leah is very good at penetration,” Hatchell said.

“A lot of the things we were trying to do involved penetration, especially after the second half when we were penetrating, drawing fouls and getting to the line.”

Not only did UNC earn almost twice as many trips to the charity stripe as ASU (33 to 18), but it also forced one of the Sun Devils’ leading scorers, forward Kristen Kovesdy, to the bench with foul trouble early in the second half.

The absence of Kovesdy — who averages 11.2 points per game —appeared to affect her team’s offensive rhythm. After connecting on five 3-pointers before intermission, ASU shot just 1-for-7 from beyond the arc in the second half, preventing the Sun Devils from closing the gap to less than four points in the final eight minutes.

“The difference was that we didn’t have any size down low, because Kristen was on the bench,” said Arizona State coach Charli Turner-Thorne. “We shot well in the first half because we had a balanced attack. I don’t think we did a good job of transition in the second half.”

As the disappointed crowd began to file toward the exits when Latta sank two free throws to extend the North Carolina lead to 77-68 with 45 seconds to play, the Tar Heels had secured their third 30-win season in program history, the other two coming in 1994 and 1995.

It was also the Tar Heels’ 16th victory in a row, the program’s second longest winning streak (North Carolina won 18 consecutive games to open the 1994-95 campaign). And as the clock neared midnight local time Saturday, the team could briefly exhale after defeating a gritty Arizona State squad before looking ahead to potential win number 31 against Baylor.

“I knew how they were going to get in our faces and put their hands on you, a lot of contact,” Hatchell said. “But we play like that. We play pressure defense like that, and we get in each other’s faces. We do that in practice a lot. So, I think that helped us.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.