North Carolina
Elon
Tar Heel Women's Basketball Tops Elon, 77-58
December 28, 2000 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 28, 2000
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CHAPEL HILL, N.C.-Senior forward LaQuanda Barksdale led the Tar Heels with a career-high 32 points as the North Carolina women's basketball team defeated Elon 77-58 Thursday evening at Carmichael Auditorium. UNC improved to 7-3 with the win, while Elon fell to 3-7.
The score was tied at 13-13 with 11:53 to play before halftime, but UNC outscored Elon 30-10 over the next nine minutes to open up a 20-point lead, 43-23, with 2:46 left in the half. Carolina led 46-27 at halftime after shooting 45.2 percent (14-31) from the field to Elon's 31.0 percent (9-29).
The Tar Heels led by as many as 28 points in the second half, but shot just 27.3 percent (9-33) from the field in the final 20 minutes.
"Elon hung in there and never quit," UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell said. "I thought we played well in the first half, but in the second half we missed a lot of easy shots."
Barksdale reached her 32-point total on a putback with 3:56 to play in the game. She fouled out 20 seconds later and finished with 14 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season. Senior guard Juana Brown scored 16 points for UNC and sophomore guard Coretta Brown added 13, along with six assists.
Junior center LaShonda Allen made her first start of the season for UNC, in place of freshman Candace Sutton, who missed the game with a concussion suffered against South Carolina on Dec. 21. Allen played 23 minutes and contributed a season-high seven rebounds.
Junior forward Mariam McLeod led the Phoenix with 12 points. Sophomore guard Jayme Chikos and freshman guard Holly Andrews added 11 points each. Sophomore forward Anestha Blakeney led Elon in rebounding with six.
"The thing about North Carolina is that they're so athletic and so quick," Elon coach Brenda Paul said. "The positives are that we battled on the boards and hit our free throws."
Elon won the rebounding battle, 47-46, and shot 91.7 percent (22-24) from the free throw line.
UNC returns to action on Jan. 2, hosting Georgia Tech at 7 p.m. in an Atlantic Coast Conference game. The Tar Heels are 1-0 in ACC play.
Elon hosts North Carolina A&T State on Dec. 30 at 4:30 p.m.
