Chamique Holdsclaw and her Tennessee Lady Vols are not just the team many call the greatest ever in women’s college basketball.
They are miracle workers too.
Trailing 61-49 with less than 8 minutes to play, the Vols engineered a brilliant rally and beat North Carolina 76-70 to keep alive their dream of a perfect season and a third straight NCAA championship.
Holdsclaw, who led all scorers with 29 points, scored the basket that tied the score 62-62 with 4 minutes 47 seconds to play. Five seconds later, she made a steal and a basket to put the Vols ahead.
The victory moves Tennessee (37-0) into the Final Four. Carolina finished 27-7.
Tennessee took a 33-27 lead after a first half that featured two contrasting 10-minute segments.
Paced by Holdsclaw, who scored 12 points, the Vols took a 21-19 lead after 10 minutes of furious fast-paced offense. Tracy Reid and Nikki Teasley scored on fast-break layups to give Carolina a quick 4-0 lead that signified that the Tar Heels were going to try to match the Vols’ own up-tempo game.
The second 10 minutes produced determined, shot-blocking, ball-stealing defense that lowered first-half shooting percentages to .382 for the Heels and .351 for the Vols. Carolina scored only one basket over a six-minute stretch, but the Vols couldn’t do much better. Tennessee won the second 10-minute segment 12-8.
Between them, the two teams committed 25 first-half turnovers, 14 by Carolina. Tennessee had seven steals, three each by guards Kellie Jolly and Semeka Randall. Carolina made six steals.
Sparked by Reid and Chanel Wright, Carolina scored the first 11 points of the second half, going ahead 38-33.
