Sessions ready for Sweet 16 rematch with UNC (+ video)

With every shot, she imagined a player in a baby-blue jersey in front of her. Every basket brought a millimeter of a smile before settling back into her usual stone-faced game demeanor, every miss brought a grimace.

Ten, 20, 30 straight makes and Khadijah Sessions would think about heading home. She always stayed for a few more, since once she stopped shooting, the mind games began.

“I kept working, and I kept thinking, every night, if I could have knocked down one shot, or that one layup could have changed the game … ” Sessions said in the preseason. “Everybody doesn’t have good games, but that game just happened to be my one.”

North Carolina did what every team tried to do to South Carolina – pack the defense in the paint, limit the Gamecocks’ bigs and force them to win from outside. UNC took it a step further in last year’s Sweet 16 – the Tar Heels often had five on four in the paint, leaving Sessions all alone on the wing.

The ball got to her enough times to make a difference.

She did not.

Sessions was 0-for-8 from the field, three months after she’d been 1-of-8 and sprained her ankle on a celebration play in a loss to UNC in her hometown. The Tar Heels basically played chicken with her, and she kept flinching.

The only bucket she hit produced a 44-43 USC lead with under eight minutes to go. It lasted for half a second, before the whistle blew, the basket was wiped out and she was called for charging. Jessica Washington hit a 3-pointer to give the Heels a four-point lead, UNC advanced to the Elite Eight and Sessions was left with a summer’s worth of hurt – and a vow to make sure it never happened again.

Again is here. Like she thought would happen, Sessions gets another shot at the Tar Heels Friday with the same prize awaiting the winner.

“I’ve been waiting for this game, waiting for revenge,” Sessions said on Thursday. “The time is now. I’m just ready for me and my teammates to prove what we should have proved last year.”

Dawn Staley knows how the motivation of playing one particular opponent can drive a player, and also how that focus can be good and bad. She and her Virginia teammates always figured they’d have to go through Tennessee to win a national title, and met the Lady Vols three times in the NCAA tournament. That has carried over to her coaching career, Staley knowing that Tennessee will always be among the top teams in the SEC and anxious for as many games as possible against the Vols.

“Tennessee was always a team that drove us crazy when I was in college,” Staley said. “But the more opportunities you get a chance to play them, the more opportunities you have to prepare and put yourself in a position to win.”

She’s admired Sessions’ work to get herself in as good of a position as possible to face UNC again, and she isn’t concerned about the bad side of the equation.

“She’s fueled by the style of play that they played last year,” Staley said. “I think we’re in a much better position to handle that.”

Sessions thinks the Tar Heels will try to play the same way – dare USC to make outside shots – but also realizes that UNC watched the Gamecocks’ game against Syracuse. The Orange did the same thing and Asia Dozier icily nailed three 3-pointers in the first five minutes, so perhaps the Heels won’t be as lazy about leaving Sessions or anyone else open on the wing.

Sessions wants the pressure. She’s worked all year thinking a UNC player would eventually be in front of her again, challenging her, telling her she won’t be able to make that shot.

“I haven’t stopped working since we lost that game,” Sessions said. “I didn’t go home, I stayed here for all three summer sessions. In a game, hopefully I can prove I can knock down that shot.”

This story was originally published March 26, 2015 at 2:50 PM with the headline "Sessions ready for Sweet 16 rematch with UNC (+ video)."