University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC to Play at Honda Elite 4 Holiday Classic
November 29, 2000 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 29, 2000
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla.-The fourth-annual Honda Elite 4 Holiday Classic, scheduled for Sunday afternoon, once again will assemble four of the nation's best women's college basketball teams. Four programs which advanced to last year's NCAA Tournament-Rutgers University, the University of Georgia, the University of North Carolina and the University of Notre Dame-will participate in an early season women's basketball double-header at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex near Orlando, Fla.
The first game of the nationally-televised event (1:30 p.m., ESPN2) pits Notre Dame against North Carolina. In the second game (4 p.m., ESPN), Rutgers faces Georgia in a much-anticipated rematch of last year's NCAA West Region Final, when Rutgers defeated the Lady Bulldogs, 59-51.
Intersport, Inc., the Chicago-based sports television and event marketing innovator, will once again produce the Honda Elite 4 Holiday Classic in association with ESPN, while the 5,500-seat fieldhouse at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex will serve as the host venue for the third straight year.
Of the nation's 30 preseason Naismith Award candidates, 10 will play in the Honda Elite 4. Georgia leads the way with four player of the year nominees, followed by Rutgers, North Carolina and Notre Dame, all of whom boast two nominees each. The Lady Bulldogs placed twin sisters Coco and Kelly Miller, Deanna Nolan and Tawana McDonald on the list. Kelly Miller was a consensus choice as first-team All-America and the SEC Player of the Year, while her sister Coco, Nolan, and McDonald were all tabbed SEC Player of the Week during the 1999-2000 campaign, marking the first time in league history a single team produced four different honorees.
Other Naismith Award nominees expected to hit the hardwood at Disney include UNC's Juana Brown and LaQuanda Barksdale, who led the Atlantic Coast Conference in scoring and rebounding last season. Tammy Sutton-Brown, who played for Team Canada during the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, and teammate Tasha Pointer, who ranks 18th on the all-time Rutgers scoring charts (1,099 points), headline the Scarlet Knights' lineup. Notre Dame's second-leading scorer and the Big East's 2000 Rookie of the Year, Alicia Ratay, leads the Irish, along with first-team All-American Ruth Riley.
Intersport, a television leader in production, distribution and marketing, also produces the State Farm Women's Tip-Off Classic, the annual Women's 3-Point Championships at the Final Four, and the NCAA Women's Golf Championship. In last year's Honda Elite 4 at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex, eventual national champion Connecticut defeated Penn State, 87-74, and Louisiana Tech cruised past UCLA, 82-64.
Spread over some 200 acres, Disney's Wide World of Sports complex hosts more than 30 sports in professional and amateur competition and training. The state-of-the-art facility includes nine venues and is home to more than 40 Amateur Athletic Union national championships, Atlanta Braves spring training, Orlando Rays minor league baseball, the Harlem Globetrotters holiday series, the only permanent version of the NFL experience and the Official All Star Cafe.
All individual tickets for the Honda Elite 4 Holiday Classic are priced at $6 and may be purchased in person at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex or by calling Ticketmaster at 407-839-3900 or 407-828-FANS. (Tickets allow general admission to both games.) Specially priced group tickets are also available.
2000 Honda Elite 4 Holiday Classic
Disney's Wide World of Sports complex (Fieldhouse, cap. 5,500)
No. 6 Notre Dame vs. No. 22 North Carolina (1:30 p.m., espn2)
No. 3 Georgia vs. No. 8 Rutgers (4 p.m., ESPN)
