If the North Carolina Tarheels are the 10th best team in the land, then the South Carolina Gamecocks are not very far behind. The Tarheels had to pull out all stops to subdue the Gamecocks in the Carolina's Classic on Sunday, 93-85.

The score might give the impression that there wasn't a lot of defense on display. With 178 points scored, that's an understandable position. But it was more the case that both teams put tremendous emphasis on their offensive attacks and used their speed relentlessly. The Gamecocks may have used most of the 30-second clock on a few possessions, before coming to the realization that the only way to stay in the game was to match the pace the Tarheels intended to set--after which, that is just what they did.  Things started out a bit raggedy, with North Carolina building up an eventual lead of 18 points, behind Cetera DeGraffenreid, Italee Lucas, Chay Shegog and Waltiea Rolle (what's with those names?). That foursome scored all but 17 of UNC's points for the total game.

The Tarheels had the 18-point lead at the 4:52 mark of the half--then it began to unravel, under attack from the South Carolina team. The Gamecocks went on a 15-2 run, led by Valerie Nainima, Ebony Wilson and Ieasia Walker. At the half, the lead was only 5 points, 44-39.

The second half was more of the same type of action: fast and furious, both teams running at every opportunity. The Tarheels biggest lead of the second half, however, was only 10 points and the teams were separated by 6 or less points for most of the last 10 minutes. The Gamecocks managed to grab the lead twice, in the second half, but could not hold it. The Tarheel parade to the foul line made the difference, with North Carolina hitting 25 of their 31 chances to only 12 of 20 chances for the South Carolina team.

Kelsey Bone led all scorers with 27 (and 10 rebounds for another double-double), while teammate Valerie Nainima had 26 points, 9 assists and 4 rebounds. Freshman guard Ieasia Walker, who played 33 minutes due to foul trouble for Samone Kennedy, had an impressive and complete game with 12 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals.

DeGraffenreid led the Heels with 26 points, followed by Lucas with 23, Shegog with 17 and 10 more from Rolle. Degraffenreid had a game-high 10 assists and 6 steals, while Shegog led the team in rebounding with 6.

While the Gamecocks certainly had chances to win the game, their relative lack of experience showed. Kelsey Bone initially had a lot of trouble dealing with the extremely physical play (and double-teams) of the North Carolina team. She shouldn't have had to learn to deal with a player putting a one-armed hug on her (last I heard, that was a personal foul) but after some initial frustration, she fought through the situation and led much of the scoring charge that had South Carolina in a position to go for a win in the final minutes.  And one of her tormentors fouled out, in the bargain--only fitting. Ieasia Walker looked a little shaky, at times, in the beginning minutes of the game, but was leading the offense down the final stretch and had a couple of escapes that showcased some remarkable ballhandling skills.

North Carolina should have been very happy to be able to leave the floor with a win; certainly head coach Sylvia Hatchell's histrionics made it appear that she was not convinced that it was a done deal until the final horn.

It was a tough loss, but great experience for the Gamecocks, who should have a somewhat easier time at the 19th Annual Hawk Classic in Philadelphia, next week. Their first opponent in that tournament will be Boston University.