University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heel Women Tip Off Season Friday
November 8, 2001 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 8, 2001
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.--The University of North Carolina women's basketball team will open the 2001-02 season Friday, Nov. 9, against George Mason in a first round Preseason WNIT game. Tipoff is 7 p.m. at Carmichael Auditorium.
Tickets are $6 for adults, $5 for students/seniors. Children 12 and under will be admitted free. Preseason WNIT ticket prices apply to all attendees, including UNC staff and students.
A win over George Mason would put the Tar Heels in the tournament's second round, hosting either Evansville or Temple on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Friday's game will be the third meeting between George Mason and UNC. The Tar Heels have won both the previous meetings, one during the 1994-95 season (84-74) and one during the 1998-99 season (100-62). In the most recent meeting, Dec. 29, 1998, at Carmichael Auditorium, six Tar Heels scored in double figures, led by Chanel Wright and Jackie Higgins with 14 points each.
George Mason finished 21-9 last season, setting a school record for wins. This year, the Patriots have been picked to finish third in the Colonial Athletic Conference, behind Old Dominion and James Madison. The top returning scorer for George Mason is sophomore guard Jen Derevjanik, who averaged 10.1 points per game last season. The Patriots are coached by Debbie Taneyhill, who is 54-52 heading into her fifth year with the program.
The Tar Heels are coming off a 15-14 season in which they missed out on postseason play. They were picked to finish second in the Atlantic Coast Conference this season by a vote of the media at last Sunday's ACC Operation Basketball. In the same balloting, guards Coretta Brown and Nikki Teasley were named to the preseason All-ACC team and freshman guard Leah Metcalf was selected as the Preseason ACC Rookie of the Year.
Brown is the top returning scorer for the Tar Heels. She averaged 15.9 points per game last season, fifth in the ACC, and led the league with 6.7 assists per game. UNC head coach Sylvia Hatchell heads into her 27th season as a head coach with a career record of 576-240. She is 304-160 heading into her 16th year with the Tar Heels.
Teasley, the Tar Heels' lone senior, will miss the George Mason contest while serving a one-game suspension for a violation of the NCAA's outside competition rule. She will join the Tar Heel lineup for the second game of the season.
