University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC Women's Basketball To Face South Carolina
December 18, 2001 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 18, 2001
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Tipoff: No. 16 UNC vs. No. 23 South Carolina, Dec. 20
The University of North Carolina women's basketball team (9-1, 1-0 ACC) meets South Carolina (9-1) Dec. 20 at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Tipoff is 7:30 p.m. for the ACC/SEC Challenge.
North Carolina is ranked 16th this week in both national polls. South Carolina is ranked 23rd in the Associated Press poll and 22nd in the coaches' poll.
Next up for the Tar Heels is their second Atlantic Coast Conference game of the season, Dec. 30 against Maryland. Tipoff is 2 p.m. at Carmichael Auditorium.
On the air
The UNC-South Carolina game will be broadcast live on radio by the Tar Heel Radio Network. The flagship station is 1360-AM WCHL. Stephen Gates is Carolina's play-by-play announcer. The game action also is available on the internet at www.TarHeelBlue.com.
Tickets
Admission to the ACC/SEC Challenge is $5, with children 6 and under admitted free. Members of girls basketball teams that arrive as a group will be admitted for $1 each.
Quick facts on UNC
2001-02 Record: 9-1
Current Rankings: 16th AP, 16th USAToday/ ESPN
Head Coach: Sylvia Hatchell (Carson-Newman, 1974)
Career Record: 585-241 (in her 27th season)
Record at UNC: 313-161 (in her 16th season)
Assistant Head Coach: Andrew Calder
Assistant Coaches: Tracey Williams, Sylvia Crawley
Team captains: Coretta Brown, Courtney Chambers, Jennifer Thomas
Sports information contact: Dana Gelin
Phone/email: (919) 962-0083/dgelin@uncaa.unc.edu
UNC athletics website: www.TarHeelBlue.com
UNC ticket office: (919) 962-2126, (800) 722-4335
News of note
* UNC moved up to 16th in both polls this week, despite being idle last week. The Tar Heels had been 17th in both polls.
* Carolina has not played a game since Dec. 8, when it defeated Richmond 99-69 in Chapel Hill.
* Freshman forward Kenya McBee is the only player on the UNC roster from the state of South Carolina. She is from Greenville and played at Wade Hampton High School.
* The UNC-USC series is tied at 5-5. North Carolina won last year's matchup 74-68 in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
UNC's statistical leaders
Scoring: Nikki Teasley (17.1 points per game)
Rebounding: Chrystal Baptist (8.9 per game)
Assists: Leah Metcalf (6.0 per game)
Steals: Nikita Bell (2.6 per game)
Blocks: Candace Sutton (1.8 per game)
Field goal percentage: Kenya McBee (61.5, 24-39)
Three-point percentage (min. 1 per game): Leah Metcalf (42.3, 22-52)
Free throw percentage (min. 1 per game): Nikki Teasley (89.5, 34-38)
Minutes per game: Coretta Brown (31.6 per game)
Scouting the South Carolina Lady Gamecocks
South Carolina is 9-1 on the season and has won its last five games. The Lady Gamecocks' lone loss came at Clemson on Nov. 28.
Junior forward Jocelyn Penn leads the team in scoring with 17.5 points per game. Senior guard Shaunzinski Gortman averages 14.9. Senior center Teresa Geter leads the team in rebounds with 7.0 per game.
South Carolina is coming off a 94-34 homecourt win over Coastal Carolina on Dec. 18. Four Lady Gamecocks scored in double figures, led by Penn's 29 points. Gortman added 18 points and led the team in rebounds with 10.
* UNC will be the third Atlantic Coast Conference opponent of the season for the Lady Gamecocks. South Carolina defeated Duke 87-81 in overtime on Nov. 25 in Durham, N.C., and lost 71-63 at Clemson in the following game, on Nov. 28.
The North Carolina-South Carolina series
UNC and USC have met 10 times and the series currently is tied at 5-5. The most recent meeting was last season, when the teams played in Myrtle Beach, S.C. On Dec. 21, 2000, at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center, UNC led throughout the game en route to a 74-68 win. Three times within the final 2:17 of play, the Lady Gamecocks cut the margin to one, but the Tar Heels were able to hold on for the win. Coretta Brown tied her career high with 27 points in the win and LaQuanda Barksdale added 17. Candace Sutton played just seven minutes before suffering a concussion that would keep her out of the rest of the game and on the bench for UNC's next outing.
Shaunzinski Gortman led USC with 20 points.
North Carolina's winning streak sits at just one, as South Carolina won the meeting prior to last year's. On Jan. 6, 1991, in Conway, S.C., the Lady Gamecocks won 76-69 in the Coastal Carolina Classic.
The series dates back to the 1975-76 season, when UNC won 75-65 in Columbia, S.C.
McBee on the move
Freshman Kenya McBee, the only South Carolina native on the North Carolina roster, is coming off a pair of impressive performances. In wins over Wake Forest (Dec. 5) and Richmond (Dec. 8), McBee averaged 11 points and 4.5 rebounds in 16 minutes of play off the bench. She shot 62.5 percent from the field in the wins, including a 5-for-7 performance against the Demon Deacons.
For the season, she is averaging 6.0 points and 2.9 rebounds in 11.7 minutes per game. Her shooting percentage of 61.5 leads the team.
McBee, a 6-3 forward, is from Greenville, S.C., and played at Wade Hampton High, which is also the alma mater of South Carolina junior Crishna Hill.
Balance in the ranks
Three times in this season's first six games, the final box score showed six UNC players in double figures. In wins over Evansville, Western Carolina and Howard, nearly half of the 13-member team scored between 10 and 23 points.
Prior to this season, the Tar Heels had not seen six in double digits since the end of the 1999-2000 season, when four starters and two subs hit that mark in a 73-64 upset of No. 9 Duke on Feb. 27, 2000.
The season breakdown:
* Six in double figures: three times (Evansville, Western Carolina, Howard)
* Five in double figures: three times (Old Dominion, Wake Forest, Richmond)
* Four in double figures: three times (Connecticut, Winthrop, Kentucky)
* Three in double figures: Once (George Mason)
Last time out for UNC
Dec. 8: No. 18 UNC 99, Richmond 69
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.--With five players scoring in double figures, UNC improved to 9-1 on the season with a 99-69 win over Richmond (3-6) at Carmichael Auditorium. Freshman guard Leah Metcalf came off the bench to lead the Tar Heels with 22 points, including six three-pointers, in 23 minutes of play.
UNC struggled from the field in the first half, hitting just two of its first nine shots. The unranked Spiders led by six, 29-23, with 7:07 to play in the first half , but Carolina went on a 13-4 run over the next three minutes to take the lead for good. The Tar Heels led by nine at halftime, 48-39, despite shooting 31.1 percent from the field.Richmond shot 46.9 percent, but was 3-for-7 from the free throw line compared with 14-22 for Carolina.
"In the first half, I felt like we missed a lot of easy shots," UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell said. "We only hit seven of 25 attempts in the paint. In the second half, we hit more of those shots and did a better job on the boards."
After the break, the Tar Heels hit eight of their first nine field goal attempts, including their first four three-pointers, to pull ahead by 20 with 15 minutes to play. The Spiders got the margin down to 15, 69-54, on a three-pointer by junior guard Elise Ryder with 13:22 remaining in the game, but could never draw any closer.
The Tar Heels outrebounded Richmond 63-43, including a season-high 28 offensive rebounds. The bulk of the difference came in the second half, when UNC had a 34-17 advantage on the boards.
"Carolina is an extremely athletic and well-rounded team that can beat you in so many ways," Richmond coach Bob Foley said. "They can shoot the three and crash the boards, making it very difficult to prepare for them because they can do everything so well."
UNC forward Chrystal Baptist had her fourth double-double of the season with 13 points and a career-best 15 rebounds despite battling a stomach ailment. Sophomore center Candace Sutton turned in her first double-double of the season with 19 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. Senior guard Nikki Teasley rebounded from a 0-for-5 start to score15 points and led the team with seven assists.
Also scoring in double figures for the Tar Heels was freshman forward Kenya McBee, who contributed a career-high 12 points in 17 minutes of play off the bench. Metcalf, who didn't start and saw her playing time limited by tendinitis in her knees, came one three-pointer from tying the school single-game record of seven.
Sophomore guard Amber Goppert led the Spiders with 15 points. Junior center Ebony Tanner scored 14 points and led the team with nine rebounds. Junior forward Krystn Gull came off the bench to score 12.
