CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Hanging in the rafters of Carmichael Arena is a blue No. 23 jersey, one of the two retired numbers in the history of North Carolina's women's basketball program. That jersey belongs to
Charlotte Smith, who currently serves as head coach for the Phoenix.
Smith's illustrious Tar Heel career included a 1994 Final Four MVP award, becoming the second woman ever to dunk in a college game and a game-winning three at the buzzer to win the national championship. In that game against Louisiana Tech, North Carolina was down two with 0.7 left on the clock, hoping for a miracle. On an out of bounds play, the ball found the hands of Smith, open for a wing three.
"I was all by myself behind the three-point line," Smith described. "All I can remember is just thinking, dear God, let this shot go in. The rest is history."
This season marks the 30th year anniversary of "The Shot," and the Elon University women's basketball team traveled to face North Carolina on Saturday as Smith returned home to Chapel Hill. Many spectators came to offer their love and appreciation pre-game to the North Carolina legend.
"It was heartwarming," Smith added. "This is my family."
The Phoenix battled hard against 17th ranked North Carolina, going back and forth early. Elon trailed by only three points at the end of the first quarter.
"I'm very happy with the way that we competed. That's the key word: competed," Smith said. "We can hang our hats on respect today because we went out and competed to the best of our ability."
Looking ahead, the Phoenix will head to Atlanta for the Georgia State Thanksgiving Tournament on Wednesday and Thursday.
'Rising Phoenix' is a new student-led initiative to cover Elon Athletics. Through innovative content creation and storytelling, Elon University students will have the opportunity to highlight the moments, people and events that make an impact, leveraging the athletic department's various web and social media platforms for distribution. Follow Rising Phoenix on Twitter (@EURisingPhoenix) and Instagram (@elonrisingphoenix). Interested in joining this initiative as a content creator (video, graphics, writing, storytelling, or more)? Contact Jacob Kisamore at jkisamore@elon.edu.
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