Double Trouble

Note: This is written as an advance to the NCAA Women's Final Four played one month ago.

By Justin A. Rice

BOSTON — Towards the end of the University of North Carolina's practice Saturday, Christina Dewitt and Iman McFarland double-teamed Erlana Larkins in the low post and mugged her just below the basket.

"Iman got me with a bear hug," Larkins said after a practice that featured as much dancing as it did basketball at TD Banknorth Garden, where No. 1 seed UNC meets Maryland in the national semifinal at 7 p.m. tonight. "I'm used to that. They weren't trying to hurt me, it's all good; I'll probably see some of that tomorrow."

The back-to-back winner of Florida's Miss Basketball award at The Benjamin School in North Palm Beach has good reason to believe Maryland (32-4) will double-down on her tonight.

The sophomore forward — who has only grown an inch or two since playing varsity basketball as a 6-0 seventh grader — was surprised the Terrapins didn't double-team her more in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) championship game. Larkins scored 26 points in that Tar Heels' victory. And she had 17 points when the Terps handed UNC (31-1) its only loss, in overtime Feb. 9. But Larkins sat out the extra session with cramps and many pundits say that's why she'll be the deciding factor in tonight's rematch.

"I don't think one person can make a team," Larkins said, eating a red Fruit Roll-Up and drinking a blue Gatorade in UNC's locker room. "I'm not sure I help the team as much as everyone makes it seem."

Her performances against No. 2 seed Maryland were above her scoring pace this season. She averaged 14.6 points per game to go with a team high 7.3 rebounds per game. That's because Larkins has a good presence in the post and knows when to kick the ball out to her teammates on the wing, sometimes to her own fault. UNC's coaches often get on her for sharing the ball with the team's sharp-shooters too much, even though they shoot almost 50 percent from the field.

"I can't help it," said Larkins, who is third on the team in assists with 81. "I don't want to force a shot between two people and not make it. Then I'll really hear it from coach."


LARKINS SHARED THE ball just as well when she was double-teamed in high school, which was perpetually. She even shared with teammates she thought might miss or miss-handle the pass.

In 2004, when her high school coach, Ronnalee Terry, returned from colon cancer for Benjamin School's fourth state title in Larkins' extended tenure, Larkins corrected the coach for suggesting she had to carry the team.

"Coach, that's not how we got here." Larkins told Terry before winning the Class 2A championship against Park Trinity Prep. "I have to include all my teammates. I can't do it by myself."

The student was teaching the teacher, an amazing development given how many tough years Terry had helped Larkins through. Larkins' sister Kanika died of AIDS at age 26 two years ago, four days after Larkins played the McDonald's All American game. The death capped a set of tragedies Larkins told USA Today began when she was 12, around the time she started attending private school. Her cousin was shot to death, her uncle died of illness and a few friends were killed in car crashes or shot.

"You wonder why friends and family die.," she said in USA Today. "As you get older, you get wiser. Basketball helped a lot. When things were happening and friends were dying, I was either at practice or the gym. I kind of looked at it like maybe this is where I'm supposed to be. Who knows what would have happened if I was out with them?"

Larkins hung out with the Terrys instead of hanging out on the streets of Riviera Beach, Fla., where her parents moved from home to home at least four times during high school. Ronnalee's husband Mike co-coached the team and Larkins stayed with the Terry's when her parents were between homes. She spent countless hours in Ronnalee's office and even took her lunch there. Sometimes Larkins picked up the Terrys' daughter from day care.

Staying off the street was the easy part, the hard part was learning how to cope emotionally. The tragedies ate Larkins for about three years until she started opening up to Ronnalee before her junior season. Ronnalee learned the extent of Larkins' situation bit by bit, overhearing cell phone conversations Larkins had from the couch in the coach's office.

"What made our relationship so special is I didn't push." Ronnalee said. "…Lana is very private. She would share with me when she wanted to."

And after confiding in Ronnalee, Larkins stopped goofing around in practice and acting out in class. She hit the books harder too. "I had to grow up sometime," said Larkins, who turned 20 today.

Junior year was all business and her teammates understood when Larkins got on their case.

"The kids knew this was her ticket out of Riviera Beach and to college," Ronnalee said. "She had to take it seriously and if they didn't they were gonna get an earful from Erlana."


THE TERRYS HAVE since moved to Albuquerque where Mike is an assistant for the University of New Mexico's women's team and Ronnalee coaches junior varsity basketball at a local high school. The Terrys talk on the phone with Larkins about once a month and communicate other ways in between phone conversations; Mike exchanging text messages about basketball issues and Ronnalee exchanging e-mails about emotional ones.

When Ronnalee and her daughter took a trip to Chapel Hill, N.C. for the Duke game this season, Ronnalee broke down outside Carmichael Auditorium after reading Larkins' bio in the UNC media guide. In the bio, Larkins wrote that the Terry's had the biggest impact on her basketball career and, "had a big impact on me outside of basketball, too."

Mike is in Boston for the Final Four and the coach's convention that accompanies the weekend of the big games every year. Ronnalee stayed home because she is scheduled for preventative surgery next week. "It's not a cancer issue," Mike said from the lobby of the Boston Marriot Copley Place, a Benjamin championship ring on his right hand.

Mike was there for UNC's final practice too and saw Dewitt and McFarland pounce on Larkins unsuccessfully. Larkins calmly chinned the ball, pivoted out of the trap and passed to a teammate on the opposite wing. UNC huddled around its coach before breaking out into a dance party at half court, all but forming a Soul Train line. Larkins spotted Mike in the stands and broke away for a moment. They embraced and she returned to the Big Dance.
Endit

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Northeastern University Graduate School of Journalism