Strong second half gives UNC the victory over Kennesaw State

With less than a minute and a half left in the first half, the North Carolina women’s basketball team had yet to break away from Kennesaw State and the two were deadlocked at 30.

But it’s hard to create a difference when you don’t have the ball.

The Tar Heels never controlled the game until they controlled the glass, which didn’t happen until the second half when UNC was well on its way to a 76-62 victory.

KSU out-rebounded UNC 21-17 and corralled 12 offensive boards in the first half. That led to seven second-chance points for the Owls, and they were able to hoist up eight more shots than the Tar Heels in the opening period.

When UNC went on an 11-3 run to start the second half, which ultimately put away KSU, the Tar Heels had a 5-1 advantage on the glass.

UNC finished the game with 37 rebounds to KSU’s 36.

Senior guard She’la White said coach Sylvia Hatchell emphasized a need to focus on rebounding for the Tar Heels to pull away from KSU.

“I read out the rebounds,” Hatchell said. “I read that out and told them that we weren’t playing smart defensively.”

The problems on the glass were exacerbated by the absence of Laura Broomfield, the team’s leading rebounder at 11.8 per game. Broomfield sat out as a precautionary measure to rest a sore foot.

“If Laura had been out there, there would have been probably six or eight offensive rebounds they got that they wouldn’t have had,” Hatchell said.

With Broomfield in street clothes on the sideline, the burden fell on Chay Shegog and Krista Gross to grab missed shots.

The duo only had five combined rebounds in the first half, but the two finished with 19 as Shegog garnered a double-double.

Shegog had five offensive rebounds that led to three second half put-back baskets for the senior.

Improvement on the boards in the second half allowed the Tar Heels to open up their transition attack. Time after time, Shegog or Gross would bring down a rebound and find White with an outlet pass who then pushed the ball up the court.

“The fast break starts with rebounding,” White said. “When we don’t rebound well, we don’t get out.

“We really need to focus on that. That’s not all on the post either, the guards also need to rebound, which we have to improve on.”

UNC had 18 fast break points in the contest.

Hatchell said the coaching staff demands a “magic number” that the team needs to reach each game. The number is based on the percentage of opportunities for rebounds.

“The magic number could be 10, and if (the opponent) gets 12, then there’s two runs,” Hatchell said. “There will probably be some runs.”

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