
Rebecca Gray
Celebration on Franklin Street
By Rebecca GrayHoopGurlz Columnist
Posted Wed, 03/05/2008 - 06:50 During Rebecca Gray's freshman season at UNC, she gets to experience an unbeaten ACC season, plus the unique rituals of the Carolina-Duke rivalry.
PHOTOS COURTESY REBECCA GRAY

"The course of human history is determined, not by what happens in the skies, but by what takes place in our hearts."
_ Sir Arthur Kent
It is my freshman year and we made University of North Carolina history by going undefeated during regular-season ACC conference play. That is no small task considering the ACC is one of the top women’s conferences this year. We completed our final regular-season game Sunday by defeating Duke on our senior night. It was a very emotional night for our seniors and we had an outstanding crowd to support them. Erlana Larkins, Latoya Pringle, and Meghan Austin played great and they will all be missed when they leave this team.
After the game was over and we were signing autographs, I got a call from teammate Iman McFarland. She said, "Bee! Where are you because there a bunch of Ram’s Club members at the post office on Franklin Street and they want us to come." It is a Carolina and Duke tradition that whomever wins the rivalry game goes to their main street on campus and toilet papers it and whatever else. I am sure that most of you heard that the first game we won was at Duke. So coach Sylvia Hatchell took us to Franklin Street and, because no one else was there cheering, we got out and started throwing toilet paper on trees ourselves. The police came and Coach Hatchell got a warning out of it.

Bee, with Catherine Greene, a UNC manager.
I pulled up on Franklin Street to see about 50 Ram’s Club members, who are our biggest fans, and a few students and band members. I was immediately wrapped with toilet paper and everyone was cheering. A couple more teammates arrived and then we called Coach and told her to swing by. When she arrived, everyone went crazy and this one man made it his mission to toilet paper her whole car. She got out and got wrapped in toilet paper just like us while she was speaking to everyone and signing autographs. It was just a very cool experience and I am so happy that we have supporters that care so much for us like they do. They are a big part of our program and I just wanted to say thank you so much!
We now are preparing for the ACC tournament this weekend. We are set to leave Wednesday after everyone has finished their classes and head to Greensboro. I cannot believe that we are already in tournament time! It seems like we just played the China National team and here we are now, preparing for another ACC tournament battle.
In preparation for the tournament, we did a team bonding experience on Monday. It was an outdoor ropes course that is structured to help you communicate together, without really knowing you are doing it. We met in the locker room and then loaded a van to go out into the woods. When we arrived we were greeted and immediately started playing the structured games. Some were meant for strategy and others involved other forms of crazy thinking. The most important factor was that we had to work together as a team to complete each task. It was fun and I think we became a stronger team at the same time.
I have some studying to do and practice to get in before we leave. It is certainly becoming more and more exciting with every day that passes by. Soak in all the memories you can because you will never have a chance to go back and do them again.
"If one asks for success and prepares for failure, he will get the situation he has prepared fort;
_ Florence Scovel Shinn
Stay cool and keep ballin’ ya’ll!

Bee (in pink), coach Sylvia Hatchell and UNC players celebrate their victory over Duke on Franklin Street.
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Rebecca "Bee" Gray is a freshman on basketball scholarship at the University of North Carolina. A 5-foot-10, sharp-shooting guard out of Georgetown, Ky., Gray was ranked 47th in the 2007 class and an Honor Roll selection by HoopGurlz.com. She was named Miss Basketball in the state of Kentucky after averaging 25.6 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.1 steals and 4.8 assists during her senior season at Scott County High School, where she also finished as its career scoring leader with 2,907 points.
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