BOSTON -- Her smile, which captivated the media here Saturday and is ever-present on the court, was long gone. She was in pain. Her eyes showed the effects of what had taken place in the last two hours.
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| Ivory Latta's knee injury really hurt the Tar Heels' chances of advancing to the title game against Duke. (AP) |
This was NOT the way this special night was supposed to go for North Carolina star Ivory Latta.
Oh, things started off OK. She had five points in the first 3:50 of the national semifinal. But then, with 12:24 remaining in the first half, she tried to save an errant pass on the offensive baseline and came down the wrong way on her left knee. She later said she was pushed, but there wasn't much evidence of that.
She was on the floor for several minutes and had to be carried to the bench. She hobbled to the locker room but was quickly back, missing less than two minutes of action.
Latta was never the same, however. She scored nine more points but was never really the factor she was supposed to be in leading the No. 1 team in the nation. For the game, Latta wound up shooting 5-for-17, just 1-for-10 from 3-point range. The Calvin Murphy-like quickness, the ability to scoot all over the place, was missing.
Maryland -- which will play Duke, a 64-45 winner over LSU in the other semifinal, for the title Tuesday -- came in with the idea of making things as tough as possible for Latta, but the fates aided the Terrapins. When it was over, Maryland's Shay Doron said she was glad Latta came back into the game because the Terps didn't want the Tar Heels to have any excuses.
She came back all right, but she wasn't the same player.
"It affected me a lot," Latta said. "But I tried not to think about it. I just tried to go out there and play hard for my team and try not to think about it."
No smile. No twinkle in the eye. No Latta. Any thought of not coming back into the game -- as if she wouldn't play if she could walk -- went out the window when she heard her teammate, Erlana Larkins, say, "We need you."
She knew she had to come back -- somehow.
She said it affected her "as far as my cutting and pushing the ball up and down the court as far as the things that I usually do."
No excuse. Just fact.
