University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Host East Tennessee State Monday at 7 p.m.
November 26, 2000 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 26, 2000
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Tipoff
On Monday, Nov. 27, North Carolina takes on East Tennessee State at Carmichael Auditorium. Tipoff is 7 p.m., and the game will be UNC's last at home until Dec. 9, when the Tar Heels open their Atlantic Coast Conference season against Maryland.
After the ETSU game, UNC travels to Orlando to meet Notre Dame in the Honda Elite 4 Holida Classic.
Quick Facts on the Tar Heels
2000-01 Record: 2-2
1999-2000 Record: 20-13
Head Coach: Sylvia Hatchell
Hatchell's Career Record: 563-228 (26th year)
Hatchell's Record at UNC: 291-148 (15th year)
Assistant Head Coach: Andrew Calder
Assistant Coaches: Tracey Williams, Sylvia Crawley
Team Captains: LaQuanda Barksdale, Juana Brown, Leah Sharp
National Rankings: Not ranked in either poll
Sports information contact: Dana Gelin
Phone/email: (919) 962-0083/dgelin@uncaa.unc.edu
UNC website: www.TarHeelBlue.com
On the Air
Monday's game against ETSU will be broadcast on radio by the Carolina Women's Basketball Network. The flagship station is 1360-AM WCHL. Stephen Gates will handle the play-by-play.
News to Note
* Carolina is 2-2 following a 91-77 loss to Old Dominion on Saturday.
* Through four games, freshman center Candace Sutton has nine blocks, as many as any Tar Heel did in all of last season.
* The Tar Heel roster boasts two preseason candidates for the Naismith National Player of the Year Award in seniors LaQuanda Barksdale and Juana Brown.
Scouting the Lady Bucs
East Tennessee State is 0-3 on the season, coming off a 75-71 loss to Northwestern State in the consolation game of the Lady Tiger Classic at Memphis on Saturday.
Sophomore forward Misty Copas comes off the bench to lead the Lady Bucs in scoring with 10.3 points per game. Senior guard Chris Forman is next with 8.7 points and freshman forward Lauren Trantham averages 8.3. Trantham leads the team in rebounds with 8.3 per game and has logged double-doubles in the last two outings.
ETSU is coached by Karen Kemp, who is in her seventh season with the Lady Bucs. In 1999-2000, her team finished 15-12, 12-6 in the Southern Conference.
* Two ETSU players hail from the state of North Carolina. Senior guard Leslie Burleson is from Buladean (Mitchell County High) and freshman forward Lauren Trantham is from Asheville (A.C. Reynolds).
UNC vs. East Tennessee State
The Tar Heels and Lady Bucs have met seven times, with UNC winning on each of those occasions. The most recent matchup was almost exactly one year ago, on Nov. 26, 1999. Carolina was up by 10 at the half, 36-26, and went on to win 82-55 behind 21 points from LaQuanda Barksdale. Chris Forman led ETSU with 12 points and four assists.
The closest game in the series came in 1983, when visiting UNC won by eight (62-54) in Johnson City, Tenn.
Last Time Out
UNC fell to 2-2 on the season with a 91-77 loss to Old Dominion at the Dean E. Smith Center. The Tar Heels led 25-13 midway through the first half before the Lady Monarchs went on a 20-3 run to take the lead for good, 5:39 before halftime.
For the game, ODU outrebounded Carolina 47-33.
"If you look at the stats sheet, the bottom line was rebounding," UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell said. "I'm disappointed in our team for not doing a better job of blocking out and rebounding."
Senior forward LaQuanda Barksdale led UNC with 27 points and eight rebounds. Sophomore guard Coretta Brown added 14 points and senior guard Leah Sharp had 13. Carolina shot 42.9 from the field while ODU shot 50.7, the highest of any UNC opponent this season.
Career Highs
Several Tar Heel veterans already have set new career highs this season:
* Sophomore guard Coretta Brown scored 23 points and grabbed nine rebounds against Syracuse to erase her old highs of 13 points and six rebounds. Against North Carolina A&T, she passed out 16 assists to set a school single-game record. Brown's previous high was 10, set against Richmond during the 1999-2000 season.
* Senior Juana Brown handed out eight assists against Buffalo, topping her old high of seven, set during her sophomore year.
* Sophomore Jennifer Thomas' 20 points (on 9-for-9 shooting from the field) and three steals against Buffalo bettered previous top performances of 18 points and two steals.
* Redshirt freshman Courtney Chambers, who appeared in six games last season, scored nine points against N.C. A&T to eclipse her former scoring high of four points. Her two assists and three steals against the Lady Aggies also were career bests.
* Sophomore Cherie Lea grabbed a career-high seven rebounds against Old Dominion. Her previous best was six.
Slow Start for the Tar Heels
With two losses it its first four games, UNC is off to its slowest start since the 1988-89 season. That year, Carolina opened 1-3 before winning its next seven.
In 1999-2000, UNC suffered its second loss of the season in its sixth game. In the previous three years, the Tar Heels did not lose a second game until January (`99, `98) or February (`97).
Freshmen Step Up
All four true freshmen on the roster have seen action already, with center Candace Sutton starting all four games. Chrystal Baptist has appeared in three, Joy Hairston in two and Carrie Davis in one, the game against North Carolina A&T.
Baptist shined against N.C. A&T in her home debut, coming off the bench to score 10 points and grab 10 rebounds in just 11 minutes of play. Hairston and Davis also scored their first points as Tar Heels in that game: Hairston was 2-for-4 from the field and 2-for-4 from the free throw line for 6 points, and Davis was 0-for-1 from the field and 1-for-2 from the free throw line for 1 point.
Backcourt of Browns
The Brown-Brown backcourt duo, with Coretta at the point and Juana at shooting guard, has put up impressive numbers this season. Together, they are averaging 31.5 points, 9.3 rebounds and 14.3 assists per game.
Coretta, a sophomore, scored a career-high 23 points against Syracuse and is averaging 17.2 per game, second on the team. Juana, a senior, led the team with 26 points (two shy of her career high) against Buffalo and is averaging 14.2, third on the team. Coretta is averaging a team-leading 9.3 assists per game. Juana Brown leads the team in steals with 2.3 per game.
Balanced Attack
Through the first four games, four UNC players are averaging 9.5 points or better per game. Senior forward LaQuanda Barksdale leads the team with 20.5 points and sophomore guard Coretta Brown is just behind with 17.2. Senior guard Juana Brown is averaging 14.2 and freshman center Candace Sutton is chipping in 9.5 per game.
Barksdale also leads the team in rebounds with 8.2 per game. Sutton is second with 6.0.
Presence in the Middle
Freshman center Candace Sutton began her UNC career on Nov. 17 as a part of the starting lineup and has made the most of that opportunity. Over her first four games, Sutton is averaging 9.5 points and 6.0 rebounds and playing 22 minutes per game.
Against Buffalo, in her first game as a Tar Heel, Sutton scored 15 points on 7-for-9 shooting in 18 minutes of play.
Sutton also has made an early difference for UNC in blocked shots. The Tar Heels averaged 1.5 per game last season and LaShonda Allen led the team with a total of nine. Through four games, Sutton already has nine and the team has a total of 17, or 4.3 per game.
Familiar Face on the Bench
In addition to four freshmen on the roster, the Tar Heels have added a new face to the lineup on the bench. Sylvia Crawley, a former Carolina player who graduated in 1994, is in her first season on the coaching staff. As a UNC player, she captained the `94 NCAA championship team and now plays professionally, last season as a member of the WNBA's Portland Fire.
Tar Heels Victorious in Exhibitions
The Tar Heels won both of their exhibition games, beating Athletes in Action 90-66 on Nov. 5 and Dynamo Kiev 78-65 on Nov. 9.
Nov. 5, vs. Athletes in Action:
Senior forward LaQuanda Barksdale scored 27 points on 11-for-13 shooting and added eight rebounds. She was 4-for-4 from three-point range. Senior guard Juana Brown scored 24 points on 10 of 12 attempts. "As senior leaders and captains, that's their role," UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell said. "I thought they did a good job of setting the tone."
As a team, UNC shot 56.5 percent from the field. Twelve players saw action, with the exception being senior center Jackie Myers, who was held out with a concussion sustained in Friday's practice. Freshman Candace Sutton started at center and grabbed nine rebounds to go with seven points. Also in the starting lineup were senior guard Leah Sharp, who is the third team captain and scored nine points, and sophomore point guard Coretta Brown, who had eight assists and just two turnovers in addition to nine points.
"I saw a lot of good things today and I thought our first five played well," Hatchell said. "I also saw a lot we can work on, but our breakdowns were on things we can control."
Nov. 7, vs. Dynamo Kiev:
Playing with the same starting lineup, the Tar Heels again were led by Barksdale, who scored 21 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. Three other UNC players scored in double figures, led by Coretta Brown with 18 points. Brown also had eight assists and seven rebounds. Sophomore forward Jennifer Thomas came off the bench to score 16 points on 7-for-9 shooting and Juana Brown added 13 points.
"There are two things I've asked our players to do, and that's to have a great attitude and give a great effort," Hatchell said following the game. "They did that tonight. We did some good things, but didn't shoot nearly as well as we did against Athletes in Action in our first exhibition."
The game was tied at halftime, 32-32. Coretta Brown scored 14 of her points in the second half and Thomas added 12 to the four she had scored in the first half to help UNC to the win.
Coming to Campus in 2001
The Tar Heels signed four players to letters of intent during the early signing period in November. They will replace UNC's four current seniors on the 2001-02 roster.
The incoming class is made up of:
Nikita Bell, F/G, 6-0, Columbus, Ga. (Spencer)
Kenya McBee, F, 6-2, Greenville, S.C. (Wade Hampton)
Leah Metcalf, G, 5-7, Charlotte, N.C. (Charlotte Christian)
Tiffany Tucker, C, 6-5, Colonial Heights, Va. (Matoaca)
Season Ticket Sales Benefit Cancer Research
Coach Sylvia Hatchell, who is in her 15th season at UNC, has pledged to donate $5 to ovarian cancer research for each 2000-01 season ticket sold. Her donation will benefit the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, where she was treated last summer.
Hatchell's saga began in May, when she underwent tests that revealed concerning abnormalities. She had surgery at UNC on June 2nd, knowing there was a possibility she would awaken to the news that she had ovarian cancer. The tumor the doctors found was benign, however, and she received a clean bill of health.
"What happened this summer has given me a new perspective and made me realize how fortunate I am," Hatchell says. "I was one of the lucky ones-I am not battling cancer. I'd like to help others fight it by doing what I can for the great programs here at UNC." For more information on the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and its programs, go to http://cancer.med.unc.edu.
