University of North Carolina Athletics
Women's Basketball Hosts Georgia Tech Sunday
February 12, 2000 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 12, 2000
Tipoff
North Carolina takes on Georgia Tech at 1 p.m. Sunday at Carmichael Auditorium. The Yellow Jackets won the teams' first meeting of the season, 55-44 in Atlanta on Jan. 13, 2000.
Next up for the Tar Heels is another home game, on Thursday, Feb. 17, against Wake Forest. Tipoff for that game is 7 p.m.
Quick Facts on the Tar Heels
Record: 12-11 overall, 4-8 ACC
Head Coach: Sylvia Hatchell
Hatchell's Career Record: 553-224 (25th year)
Hatchell's Record at UNC: 281-144 (14th year)
Assistant Head Coach: Andrew Calder
Assistant Coaches: Ann Hancock, Tracey Williams
National Rankings: Not ranked
On the Air
Sunday's game 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 and Craig Kocher will provide color commentary.
News to Note
The Tar Heels are one win shy of the 500th victory in the history of the varsity program at UNC.
Junior forward LaQuanda Barksdale continues to lead the ACC in both scoring (17.1 points per game) and rebounding (9.0 per game).
Junior center Jackie Higgins is just behind Barksdale in rebounds with 8.4 per game, tied with three others for second in the ACC.
UNC vs. Georgia Tech
Sunday's game is the 44th meeting between UNC and Georgia Tech. Carolina leads the series 34-9 and has won 14 of the last 16 meetings.
Georgia Tech won the teams' first meeting of the season, 55-44 in Atlanta on Jan. 13. Georgia Tech guard Danielle Donehew had 17 points at halftime (compared with 15 points for the entire UNC team) and led the Yellow Jackets with 22 points for the game. Juana Brown was the only Tar Heel in double figures with 11 points, and Jackie Higgins grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds.
The defeat was UNC's fourth in a five-loss streak. The 24.4 shooting percentage from the field is Carolina's lowest this season.
Scouting the Yellow Jackets
Georgia Tech is 12-10 overall, 5-7 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Yellow Jackets are not ranked in either poll.
The team is coming off an 83-51 loss on Friday night at Duke. Danielle Donehew led Georgia Tech with 15 points and Regina Tate was the leading rebounder with 13.
For the season Jaime Kruppa leads the team in scoring with 11.0 points per game. Donehew is the only other player in double figures, averaging 10.7. Kruppa is also the team's leading rebounder with 8.2 per game.
The Yellow Jackets are coached by Agnus Berenato, who is 169-164 in her 12th year at the school.
Last Time Out
On Thursday, Feb. 10, the Tar Heels lost 69-65 at Clemson. UNC won the rebounding battle, 50-38, but shot just 31.9 for the game.
The Tar Heels trailed by as many as 20 in the second half, but closed on the Lady Tigers as the clock wound down. Nikki Teasley hit two of her four three-pointers in the final 11 seconds of the game and finished with a team-leading 18 points. Juana Brown added 17 and LaQuanda Barksdale had 15 points and 13 rebounds.
One Win from 500
The Tar Heels are one win away from registering the 500th victory in the history of the varsity program. Women's basketball became a varsity sport at UNC for the 1974-75 school year and the Tar Heels played their first game on Jan. 13, 1975, winning 74-47 against NC State in Raleigh.
Now in its 26th year as a varsity program, Carolina sports an all-time record of 499-274, a winning percentage of .646.
Thousand-Point Club
Three juniors'LaQuanda Barksdale, Juana Brown and Nikki Teasley
all have passed the 1,000 career points mark this season. Teasley hit her 1,000th first, during the game at Maryland on Dec. 2. Barksdale joined her in the elite club during the home game against Maryland on Jan. 30. Brown scored her 1,000th during the Feb. 10 game at Clemson.
Coming from Behind
Until the Maryland game on Jan. 30, UNC hadn
t won once all season after trailing with five minutes to play. Now, the Tar Heels have earned two recent wins after coming from behind.
Against the Terrapins, UNC was behind 45-43 at the five-minute mark before Juana Brown hit a three to put Carolina up 46-45 with 4:41 to play. The Tar Heels held onto the lead after that and went on to win 54-49.
Against Virginia on Feb. 7, UNC trailed by eight, 55-47, with five minutes to play. Nikki Teasley scored the team's final 10 points of the half, including two free throws with 25 seconds on the clock that tied the game at 57-57 and sent it into overtime, after which Carolina won 66-63.
Teasley Back in Action
Junior Nikki Teasley, who had been on a leave of absence from the team since Jan. 5, returned to the Tar Heel lineup on Jan. 30 against Maryland. The game was her first appearance in a UNC uniform since Jan. 3, when Carolina hosted NC State.
In 31 minutes of play, Teasley scored 11 points (all in the second half) and added six rebounds and five assists.
It feels good to be back with everyone and playing basketball again,
she said after the game, a 54-49 win for UNC.
On Sunday, Jan. 23, coach Sylvia Hatchell announced that Teasley would rejoin the team on Monday, Jan. 24. "Nikki has been working proactively to resolve some personal issues," Hatchell said at that time. "This work is on-going and her return to the team will be on a gradual basis."
Teasley watched practice that Monday and participated on Wednesday. She did not dress out for the game at Duke on Jan. 27, but returned to action three days later.
Teasley appeared in the first 12 games of the season, starting eight and averaging 14.0 points, then missed the next seven.
A Brief Break from the Shooting Slump
Against Florida State on Jan. 20, UNC shot 51 percent from the field for its third-best mark of the season and a significant improvement over the previous games. During the five-game losing streak UNC broke against the Seminoles, the team shot a chilly 30.7 percent from the floor, with a season low of 24.4 against Georgia Tech on Jan. 13.
The Tar Heels averaged 43.3 percent from the field through their first 11 games, ending with the Dec. 30 win over California. UNC has shot 33.4 percent from the field in the 12 games since then, beginning with the Jan. 3 loss to NC State.
On the season, UNC is shooting 38.2 percent from the field, last in the conference. Against ACC teams, the Tar Heels are shooting 34.5 percent, also ninth in the league.
Higgins' Hot Streak
Over a three-game span against Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and Florida State in January, junior center Jackie Higgins averaged an impressive 13.3 rebounds. She had a career-high 17 at Georgia Tech on Jan. 13 then grabbed another 14 at Wake Forest on Jan. 16 and led the team against Florida State on Jan. 20 with nine. Higgins also led the team in scoring against Wake with a career-high 17 points and had 16 against FSU. For the season, she has six double-doubles.
The 6-0 player from Durham, N.C., is averaging 8.4 rebounds (tied for second in the ACC) and 9.8 points.
Breakout Year for Barksdale
After a solid sophomore season in which she led the team in rebounding, junior forward LaQuanda Barksdale has emerged as one of the top players in the ACC and a candidate for post-season honors.
Throughout the season, she has ranked among the ACC leaders in both scoring and rebounding and currently averages 17.1 points and 9.0 boards, both at the top of the conference.
Barksdale earned ACC Player of the Week honors on Dec. 13 after averaging 30 points and 18.5 rebounds in that week's two games. She set a career high with 31 points against Georgia Southern on Dec. 7, then came back with 29 against Radford on Dec. 11.
With Higgins, then the ACC's leading rebounder, on the bench with back pain, Barksdale picked up the slack with 18 boards against Georgia Southern and 19 (tying her career high) against Radford.
She has 18 career double-doubles, eight this season.
Check Out Hatchell @ CNN/SI.com
Throughout the season, coach Sylvia Hatchell has contributed a bi-weekly journal to the CNN/Sports Illustrated website. The latest installment, as well as an archive of Hatchell's entries, is available on the women's basketball page at cnnsi.com.
Teasley Totaling Up Assists
Heading into the 1999-2000 season, junior Nikki Teasley needed 169 assists to capture the UNC career record. With last season's total of 211, she already holds UNC's single-season record. Teasley also broke the school's single-game record in 1999, with 15 assists against Georgia Tech on Jan. 24.
1. Pam Leake (124 games, 1983-86) 545 2. Pam Hammond (122 games, 1982-85) 513 3. Emily Johnson (112 games, 1989-92) 511 4. Marion Jones (102 games, 1994-97) 511 5. Nikki Teasley (82 games, 1998-present) 463Raining 3's
UNC continues to lead the ACC in three-pointers per game with an average of 6.0 per outing.
Junior guard Leah Sharp ranks among the conference leaders in three-point percentage (33.0, eighth) and three-pointers per game (1.5, eighth).
As a team, UNC is shooting 31.9 from three-point range, fifth in the conference. The Tar Heels are shooting 38.2 percent from the field (ninth in the ACC) and 68.2 percent from the free throw line (fourth in the ACC).
In Remembrance
Each Tar Heel uniform bears a black patch with the letters
MH
in memory of UNC Chancellor Michael Hooker. Hooker, a 1969 Carolina graduate and chancellor since 1995, succumbed to non-Hodgkins lymphoma on June 29th, 1999.
In his four years as chancellor, Hooker made a tremendous impact on the university. He was a staunch supporter of the Carolina athletic programs, both at home and on the road. In his memory, all 28 UNC varsity teams will wear the patches during the 1999-2000 school year.
Tar Heel Honors
Freshman forward Jennifer Thomas was named ACC Rookie of the Week for the second time this season on Dec. 20. Thomas scored 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting in a Dec. 19 win over Michigan State, the Tar Heels' only game of the week.
She also earned the honor on Dec. 6 after averaging 15.3 points in the previous week's three games. Thomas shot 54.2 percent (13-24) from the field and 80.0 percent (20-25) from the free throw line. She also contributed 4.7 rebounds per game in an average of 18.7 minutes on the floor.
Junior forward LaQuanda Barksdale was named ACC Player of the Week on Dec. 13 after averaging 30 points, 18.5 rebounds in the two games of the week.
Barksdale was named to the all-tournament team at the Wachovia Women's Invitational Tournament after averaging 19.5 points in UNC's 99-86 loss to Notre Dame and 106-80 win over Richmond. Barksdale was perfect from the free throw line in the tournament, hitting all 12 of her attempts.
UNC in the Polls
On Jan. 24, after losing six of the past seven games, UNC fell out of the USA Today Coaches' Poll, marking the first time since the end of the 1995-96 season that the Tar Heels have not been ranked in either poll.
Carolina received 18 votes (seventh among
others receiving votes') in the Feb. 7 coaches' poll.
UNC fell out of the Associated Press poll on Jan. 17, after having been ranked every week since the 1996-97 preseason poll. The team had been ranked in the USA Today poll every week since Dec. 2, 1996.
The Tar Heels began the 1999-2000 season ranked in the top 10, but fell out of the single digits after losing to Notre Dame on Dec. 4. They moved back into the top 10 at the end of 1999 and remained there through the first week of 2000.
AP USA Today
Preseason 9 8
11/15 8 8
11/22 10 11
11/29 9 12
12/6 11 14
12/13 10 11
12/20 10 11
12/27 9 10
1/3 9 9
1/10 15 12
1/17 -- 23
1/24 -- --
1/31 -- --
2/7 -- --
Battling the Injury Bug
Freshman guard Courtney Chambers has been diagnosed with mononucleosis and is expected to miss several weeks of play. She has appeared in six games this season, averaging 4.5 minutes per game.
Carolina's numbers were sparse in some December games as players battled a variety of injuries and illnesses.
Junior guard Juana Brown missed three games (Richmond, Georgia Southern, Radford) because of back spasms and junior center Jackie Higgins missed two games (Georgia Southern, Radford) with back pain.
Sophomore center Maggie Goloboy missed the Radford and Georgia Southern games with bronchitis. Freshman guard Courtney Chambers sat out the game against Radford with an illness and junior guard Leah Sharp missed that game with a pulled groin, suffered against Georgia Southern. All were back in action for the Dec. 19 game against Michigan State.
Not a Senior in the Bunch
For the first time in Sylvia Hatchell's 14 years as the UNC coach, Carolina doesn
t have a single senior on the roster. This year's team is made up of seven juniors, two sophomores and four freshmen.
Preseason Play
The Tar Heels split their preseason exhibition games, losing to the Russian Junior National Team 82-77 on Nov. 3 and beating Makos CKB Cassovia (Slovakia) 71-64 on Nov. 14.
Junior forward LaQuanda Barksdale led the team in both games, with 28 points and 12 rebounds in the first and 23 points, 14 rebounds in the second. Junior Jackie Higgins, who started at center, also turned in impressive performances, with 15 points, nine rebounds against Russia and 18 points, 13 rebounds against Slovakia.
Returning Core
North Carolina returns its top three scorers and four of its top five >from the 1998-99 season. Guard Nikki Teasley led the team in scoring last season with 15.4 points per game, guard Juana Brown added 14.6 points and forward LaQuanda Barksdale scored 13.9. Departed senior Chanel Wright scored 13.7 points per game.
The Tar Heels also return the majority of their rebounding, with four of the top five back. Barksdale led the team with 7.8 per game. After Wright's 5.3 per game, UNC got 5.2 from Brown and 5.1 from forward Jackie Higgins.
Great Expectations
At the ACC media day in October, the Tar Heels were picked as the favorite to win the conference championship. UNC was listed first on 22 ballots, compared with 14 for NC State and two for Virginia.
Carolina's Nikki Teasley was named to the Preseason All-Conference team, along with Georgia Tech's Niesha Butler, Virginia's Erin Stovall and North Carolina State's Summer Erb and Tynesha Lewis.
Newcomers
The 1999-2000 roster lists six new additions to the UNC team
two juniors and four freshmen.
The juniors are guard Jasmyn Huntington, who redshirted last season after transferring from Nevada, and center Jackie Myers, who is a member of the UNC track and field team and decided this fall to walk on to the basketball team.
The freshmen are guards Coretta Brown (Statesville, Ga.), Courtney Chambers (Asheville, N.C.) and Cherie Lea (Blanch, N.C.) and forward Jennifer Thomas (Lathrup Village, Mich.)
Next Year's Additions
The Tar Heels signed three players during the early signing period in November.
Chrystal Baptist: A 6-2 guard/forward from Farmville, N.C., she scored 23.4 points per game last season for Farmville Central and averaged 16 rebounds. She is attending Charlotte Christian School for her senior year.
Carrie Davis: A 6-4 forward/center from Franklin, Tenn., she averaged 16 points and nine rebounds last season for Brentwood High. She was named district MVP and was a member of the all-region team.
Candace Sutton: A 6-5 center from Kettering, Md., she averaged 17 points and 9.1 rebounds for Largo High last season.
Looking Back at 1999
The Tar Heels finished the season 28-8, reaching the Sweet 16 before falling to Purdue 82-59 in the Midwest Regional semifinal. For the second year in a row, UNC was ousted from the NCAA Tournament by the eventual champion. (Carolina was knocked out in the regional final by Tennessee in 1998.)
UNC spent the entire season ranked in the AP poll, with a high spot of fifth and a low of 14th at the season's end.
The Tar Heels finished tied for third in the ACC during the regular season and as the runner-up in the ACC Tournament. They surpassed the 25-wins mark for the fifth time in six years.
ACC Honors
Three Carolina players'Juana Brown, Nikki Teasley and Chanel Wright
were named to the All-ACC Tournament first team in 1998-99. Teasley was also named to the All-ACC second team, while Brown and LaQuanda Barksdale were selected for the the third team.
UNC reached the ACC Tournament finals for the fifth time in the past six years, but lost to Clemson 87-72 in the championship game.
Named for the Naismith
Both Nikki Teasley and LaQuanda Barksdale are listed among the preseason candidates for the Naismith Award, given to college basketball's player of the year. Teasley is listed among the top 10 candidates, while Barksdale is on the "Best of the Rest" list.
Teasley also was among the candidates for the award last season.
Barksdale Brings Home Silver
LaQuanda Barksdale spent part of her summer competing as a part of the USA Basketball World University Games team, which won a silver medal in Spain in July. Barksdale started all six games of the competition and averaged 11.8 points (second on the team) and 4.5 rebounds.
Team Captains
Juniors LaQuanda Barksdale and Jasmyn Huntington were selected to serve as team captains for the 1999-2000 season.
Coach Sylvia Hatchell
Sylvia Hatchell is in her 14th year as Carolina's coach and her 25th year as a head coach. A North Carolina native, Hatchell has led the team to an average of 20.7 wins per year over the past 13 seasons and to 26.6 wins per year over the past six.
She is the only coach to have won women's basketball national championships on the NCAA, NAIA and AIAW levels. Besides the 1994 NCAA Championship at UNC, Hatchell led Francis Marion to the NAIA national championship in 1986 and to an AIAW title in 1982.
