University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC Women's Hoops Readies For Rice
March 20, 2000 | Women's Basketball
March 20, 2000
Tipoff
The Tar Heels meet Rice for the first time in school history on Monday for a spot in the Sweet 16. The teams face off in a second-round game at the UCSB Thunderdome at 9:07 PST.
Quick Facts on the Tar Heels
Record: 19-12 overall, 8-8 ACC
Ranking: Unranked
Head coach: Sylvia Hatchell
Hatchell's career record: 560-225 (25th year)
Hatchell's record at UNC: 288-145 (14th year)
Assistant head coach: Andrew Calder
Assistant coaches: Ann Hancock, Tracey Williams
Director of basketball operations: Shannon Spencer
Team headquarters in Santa Barbara, Calif.:
Radisson of Santa Barbara, (805) 963-0744
Tar Heel Leaders
Scoring leader: LaQuanda Barksdale, 17.7 ppg.
Rebounding leader: LaQuanda Barksdale, 8.7 rpg.
Assists leader: Nikki Teasley, 6.1 per game
Steals leader: Nikki Teasley, 2.2 per game
Team captains: LaQuanda Barksdale, Jasmyn Huntington
UNC in the NCAA Tournament
All-time record: 20-11 in 13th appearance
2000 Bid: At-large, No. 5 seed in the West Region
All-time record in West Region play: 4-2 in third appearance
All-time record in first-round games: 8-2
All-time record in second-round games: 7-2
On the Air
Monday's game will be televised nationally by ESPN.
All of Carolina's NCAA Tournament games will be broadcast on radio by the Carolina Women's Basketball Network. The flagship station is 1360-AM WCHL. Stephen Gates handles the play-by-play and Jan Boxill provides color commentary.
Carolina News to Note
- UNC has won seven if its last eight games, eight of the past 10.
- The Tar Heels have played in six of the past seven Sweet 16's. In each of those years, however, Carolina has started tournament play on its home court.
- Junior forward LaQuanda Barksdale is the Atlantic Coast Conference leader both in scoring (17.7 points per game) and in rebounding (8.7 per game). She has scored in double figures in 27 of 31 games this season. Saturday's game was her ninth double-double of the season and her 13th 20-point game of the season.
- Carolina has never played against Rice and has faced only one Western Athletic Conference team, Hawaii. The Tar Heels lead that series 2-1.
- In each of the past two years and in three of the last six tournaments, the NCAA champion has come from UNC's bracket.
- Althought the Tar Heels are averaging 39.5 percent shooting from the field this season, Saturday's game against Maine marked just the second time in the past eight games that Carolina has fallen below 40 percent.
Aside from Saturday's 39.3 percent shooting, the Tar Heels' other recent sub-40 performance was 39.3 in a 56-54 win over Clemson in the ACC Tournament. - Over the last eight games, UNC is averaging 17.6 assists and 13.4 turnovers per game.
Last Time Out
In their first round game on Saturday night, the fifth-seeded Tar Heels defeated 12th-seeded Maine 62-57. UNC did not lead until Nikki Teasley's free throw gave her team a 43-42 advantage with 9:26 remaining in the game. Although that was the game's only lead change, Maine tied the score at 50-50 with 5:21 to play.
The Black Bears stretched their lead to 11 with 16:28 remaining in the game before UNC used a 19-7 run to take the lead. The Tar Heels' biggest lead of the game was six.
Junior forward LaQuanda Barksdale led Carolina with 23 points and 13 rebounds. Junior center Jackie Higgins scored 16 points to go with her six rebounds and junior guard Nikki Teasley added 14 points and eight assists while committing only two turnovers.
- Carolina turned the ball over 13 times against Maine, but only three of those came in the second half.
- The Black Bears' 62.5 percent shooting from three-point range was the highest by a Carolina opponent this season.
- Saturday's game was only the fifth this season that the Tar Heels have won after shooting lower than 40 percent.
- UNC's 21.4 three-point percentage was the team's lowest since a 2-for-15 (13.3 percent) performance against Maryland on Jan. 30.
Tar Heels' Tournament Success
North Carolina has advanced at least as far as the Sweet 16 in its last six NCAA Tournament appearances, dating back to the 1993 season. The Tar Heels won the NCAA Championship in 1994, reached the Elite Eight in 1998 and advanced to the regional semifinals in 1993, ˇ95, ˇ97 and ˇ99. (UNC did not earn a tournament bid in 1996.)
Carolina is 20-11 all-time in tournament play in its 13th appearance. The 2000 bid is the Tar Heels' ninth under coach Sylvia Hatchell. They are 18-7 in NCAA Tournament play during her tenure.
Good Company
Three times in the past six years, the NCAA Champion has come from the bracket to which Carolina was assigned. Last season, UNC lost to eventual-champion Purdue in the Midwest Region semifinal. In 1998, UNC lost to eventual-champion Tennessee in the Mideast Regional final. And in 1994, it was UNC*playing in the East Region*that emerged with the title.
Back to the Big West
Santa Barbara's Thunderdome is quite familiar to one of the Tar Heels. Junior guard Jasmyn Huntington spent her first two collegiate seasons at the University of Nevada and during that time played on UCSB's home court twice.
Breakout Year for Barksdale
After a solid sophomore year in which she led the team in rebounding, junior forward LaQuanda Barksdale emerged this season as one of the ACC's top players and earned a spot on the All-ACC and All-ACC Tournament first teams.
Throughout the season, she led the conference in scoring, in rebounding or in both categories. She currently is averaging 17.7 points and 8.7 boards, both ACC bests.
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.
Barksdale has 18 career double-doubles, eight this season. She has scored 20 or more points on 18 occasions (including a total of 13 times this season) and has scored in double figures in 27 of this year's 31 games.
Chasing the Assists Record
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.
UNC's Career Assist Totals
| 1. Pam Leake (124 games, 1983-86) | 545 |
| 2. Nikki Teasley (90 games, 1998-present) | 524 |
| 3. Pam Hammond (122 games, 1982-85) | 513 |
| 4. Emily Johnson (112 games, 1989-92) | 511 |
| 5. Marion Jones (102 games, 1994-97) | 511 |
...And Moving Up in Steals
With two steals against Maine, Nikki Teasley now has a total of 205, which ranks her 10th on UNC's career steals list. She needs two more to move into a tie for ninth place with Jessica Gaspar, who has 207 >from 1996-99
Carolina's all-time steals leader is Pam Leake, who had 401 from 1983-86.
