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The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 4, 2008

Last week, North Carolina's LaToya Pringle was honored as the ACC Player of the Week, thanks in part to her performance in the third-ranked Tar Heels' 97-86 double-overtime victory against fourth-ranked Maryland. Pringle scored 12 of her career-high 31 points in the second overtime to cap the victory. The senior from Fayetteville, N.C., talked to The Tampa Tribune about her performance and how she would like her team to end its season in Tampa. With so many dominating players in the ACC, what does it mean to you to get this award? It feels good to finally play well against top competition in the ACC. I really wanted to attack and get into a defensive mode, but also score, so it was nice to be able to do both. Is North Carolina the team to beat in the ACC? I would think so, since we're at the top of the ACC. I think everyone wants to play their best against us. How tough is this conference right now with three teams ranked in the top 10, including two in the top five? I think it's actually the toughest conference. I know Tennessee and Connecticut are the top teams in the nation right now, but I think for a conference to be the best, you can't just have one team. We have so many teams that are ranked and ones that could be ranked. How has your game evolved at the collegiate level? I think I've extended my range. In high school, I was usually only 3 feet away from the basket. Now in college, with my height and size, I really had to extend my game. What's it like playing in the basketball Mecca of the world? I knew North Carolina was a good school and had good basketball teams. You can't really go anywhere without somebody coming up to you and saying, "I saw your game on TV" or "I came to the game." I think it's the Triangle area in general, with us, Duke and N.C. State. I think it's a huge basketball town. As it gets closer to tournament time, do you feel like your team is peaking at the right moment? After our loss to Connecticut, I think we really elevated our game to another level. I think that helped us beat Maryland and hopefully we can keep it going. Katherine Smith

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