University of North Carolina Athletics
Georgia Tech Up Next For No. 17 UNC Women
January 16, 2002 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 16, 2002
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Tipoff: No. 17 UNC hosts Georgia Tech, Jan. 17
The University of North Carolina women's basketball team (14-3, 4-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) hosts Georgia Tech (9-6, 3-3 ACC) Thursday at Carmichael Auditorium. Tipoff is 7 p.m.
Carolina heads into the game ranked 17th in both the Associated Press poll and the USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll.
Next up for the Tar Heels is an ACC road game on Monday, Jan. 21, at Wake Forest. Tipoff at The Annex in Winston-Salem, N.C., is 7 p.m.
On the air
Thursday's 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 and Jones Angell provides play-by-play. The radio broadcast is available via the internet at www.TarHeelBlue.com.
Tickets
Tickets to UNC women's basketball games are $5 for adults, $3 for students and seniors. There is no charge for admission for children 12 and under.
North Carolina students, faculty and staff are admitted free with their UNC One Cards.
Tickets may be purchased at the door or at the UNC ticket office by calling (919) 962-2296 or (800) 722-4335.
Quick facts on UNC
2001-02 Record: 14-3 (4-1 ACC)
Current Rankings: 17th AP, 17th USAToday/ ESPN
Head Coach: Sylvia Hatchell (Carson-Newman, 1974)
Career Record: 590-243 (in her 27th season)
Record at UNC: 318-163 (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 leads the series with Georgia Tech 37-10, but the Yellow Jackets won last year's matchup at Carmichael. It was their first victory in Chapel Hill since 1991.
* The Tar Heels are ranked 17th this week in both polls.
* Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell is 10 wins away from recording her 600th career victory.
* Against Clemson, Nikki Teasley moved into second place on the ACC's career assists list with a total of 609. She also hit the 200th three-pointer of her career, a mark equaled by just eight other ACC players.
* Sophomore center Candace Sutton is questionable for Thursday's game against Georgia Tech after spraining her right ankle in the game against NC State on Jan. 10. She did not play in UNC's most recent game, at Clemson on Jan. 13.
UNC's statistical leaders
Scoring: Nikki Teasley (16.6 points per game)
Rebounding: Chrystal Baptist (9.0 per game)
Assists: Leah Metcalf (5.6 per game)
Steals: Nikki Teasley (2.7 per game)
Blocks: Candace Sutton (2.1 per game)
Field goal percentage: Kenya McBee (55.0, 44-80)
Three-point percentage: Nikki Teasley (40.6, 43-106)
Free throw percentage: Nikki Teasley (88.5, 54-61)
Minutes per game: Coretta Brown (32.6 per game)
UNC players in the ACC rankings
Scoring: 3. Nikki Teasley (16.6), 4. Coretta Brown (16.1), 17. Candace Sutton (12.5), 19. Leah Metcalf (11.5)
Rebounding: 2. Chrystal Baptist (9.0), 7. Candace Sutton (6.8), 18. Coretta Brown (5.1)
Field goal percentage: 2. Candace Sutton (51.8)
Free throw percentage: 1. Nikki Teasley (88.5)
Three-point percentage: 2. Nikki Teasley (40.6), 3. Coretta Brown (37.7)
Assists: 3. Leah Metcalf (5.59), 6. Nikki Teasley (4.38), 8. Coretta Brown (4.00)
Steals: 3. Nikki Teasley (2.69), 4. Leah Metcalf (2.35), t7. Nikita Bell, Coretta Brown (1.94)
Blocks: 1. Candace Sutton (2.12), 7. Chrystal Baptist (0.94)
Three-pointers made: 1. Nikki Teasley (2.69 per game), 2. Coretta Brown (2.53 per game), 7. Leah Metcalf (1.71 per game)
Assist/turnover ratio: 5. Leah Metcalf (1.58), 6. Nikki Teasley (1.43), 8. Coretta Brown (1.39)
Scouting the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Georgia Tech is 9-6 on the season and 3-3 in the ACC following a 61-58 victory over Maryland Monday evening in Atlanta. The Yellow Jackets have won their last two games, both ACC matchups, including a 92-61 homecourt victory over Virginia on Jan. 10.
The team is led in scoring by senior forward Regina Tate's 14.1 points per game. Also averaging in double figures are junior center Sonja Mallory (13.7) and senior guard Milli Martinez (11.5). Mallory leads the team and ranks fourth in the conference with 7.8 rebounds per game and Tate averages 7.3. Point guard Nina Barlin leads the conference with an average of 9.33 assists per game.
The Yellow Jackets rank second in the ACC in scoring defense, allowing opponents 61.5 points per game. They lead the ACC in rebounding defense, with opponents totaling 32.1 boards per game, and in rebounding margin, with an average of 9.2 more rebounds per game than opponents.
Georgia Tech is coached by Agnus Berenato, who is in her 14th year with the program.
The North Carolina-Georgia Tech series
UNC leads the series with Georgia Tech 37-10 after winning two of last year's three meetings.
* On Jan. 2, 2001, the Yellow Jackets earned their first victory in Chapel Hill since 1991, defeating the Tar Heels 82-75. Georgia Tech was up by 17 with 3:00 to play before UNC closed the gap with a late run. Niesha Butler led Georgia Tech with 25 points. Milli Martinez added 21 and Sonja Mallory had 15.
Coretta Brown led Carolina with 17 points. Juana Brown added 15 and LaShonda Allen scored 10.
* On Feb. 1, 2001, UNC evened the year's ledger with an 85-63 win in Atlanta. Coretta Brown again led the Tar Heels, this time with 21 points, and Juana Brown scored 20. Candace Sutton also was in double figures with 14 points. UNC outrebounded Georgia Tech 50-36 for Sylvia Hatchell's 300th win as head coach of the Tar Heels.
* On March 2, 2001, seventh-seeded UNC defeated eighth-seeded Georgia Tech 79-64 in the first round of the ACC Tournament in Greensboro, N.C., to snap a three-game losing streak. LaQuanda Barksdale, who had scored in single digits in the season's first two games against the Yellow Jackets, led the Tar Heels with 25 points and 10 rebounds. Juana Brown added 17, Candace Sutton 14 and Coretta Brown 12. Milli Martinez led Georgia Tech with 18 points. Niesha Butler added 14 and Jaime Kruppa scored 12.
Teasley tops in assists
With six assists against Clemson on Jan. 13, senior guard Nikki Teasley moved into second place on the Atlantic Coast Conference's all-time assists list.
NC State's Angie Armstrong (1980-83) had held second with a career total of 608 assists. Teasley finished the Clemson game with a career total of 609. Virginia's Dawn Staley (1989-92) is the conference's assist leader with a career total of 729.
* In her first appearance of the season, Teasley totaled eight assists and became UNC's career leader in that category. She headed into the game against Evansville, her first action of the year, seven assists short of breaking the 15-year-old record of 545 held by Pam Leake (1983-86).
She now has a total of 609 in 108 games. Her career average of 5.6 per game is tied for first in ACC history with that of Virginia's Dawn Staley.
Tucker suffers torn ACL
Freshman center Tiffany Tucker suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee during the game against Tennessee-Martin on Jan. 7 and is likely to miss the remainder of the 2001-02 season.
She has begun a rehabilitation program and is expected to undergo surgery later this month, according to Dr. Tim Taft, UNC's Director of Sports Medicine. Taft diagnosed the ACL tear during an examination on the morning after the game.
Tucker, a 6-5 player from Petersburg, Va., fell to the court with the injury after jumping for a rebound with just over a minute remaining in the game against Tennessee-Martin, a 90-67 win for Carolina. She played a total of four minutes, totaling three points and one block.
For the season, Tucker has appeared in 11 games, including two Atlantic Coast Conference contests. She is averaging 1.5 points and 1.3 rebounds in 4.5 minutes off the bench.
Mainstay in the lineup
Junior guard Coretta Brown is the only player to have started all 17 games for the Tar Heels this season, and was one of three to start all 29 last season.
After starting 10 games as a freshman and appearing in all 33, Brown moved into the starting lineup as UNC's point guard at the start of her sophomore season. This year, she shares guard duties with senior Nikki Teasley and freshman Leah Metcalf, both of whom have missed at least one start due to injury.
Brown has played in every game during her career at UNC, a total of 79 heading into the game against Georgia Tech.
McBee steps up
With starting center Candace Sutton on the bench with a sprained ankle, freshman Kenya McBee was called upon to take her place in Sunday's game at Clemson. The 6-3 freshman was averaging 6.2 points and 3.4 rebounds in 13.9 minutes per game and was coming off a poor outing against NC State, when she shot 0-for-4 from the field in the Tar Heels' loss.
But McBee responded to the challenge with the best game of her career. Making her first collegiate start, she scored 17 points and grabbed a team-leading 12 rebounds to help UNC to an 89-85 win. The scoring and rebounding totals both were career highs and combined to make the first double-double of her career. She played 33 minutes in the game, something of a homecoming for the Greenville, S.C., native.
For the season, she is averaging 6.9 points (9.6 against ACC teams) and 3.9 rebounds (5.2 against ACC teams) for the 14-3 Tar Heels
Climbing the scoring chart
Senior guard Nikki Teasley scored the 1,500th point of her career on Dec. 30 against Maryland on a free throw with 2:32 to play in the first half.
Teasley now has a career total of 1,586 points, good for 12th place on UNC's alltime scoring list. With 18 points against Tennessee-Martin on Jan. 7, she took over that spot by passing Kathy Wilson (1985-88), who had a career total of 1,551. In 11th place is Bernadette McGlade (1977-80) with 1,604 career points.
Last time out for UNC
Jan. 10: No. 17 UNC 89, Clemson 85
CLEMSON, S.C.-Coretta Brown scored a season-high 26 points, including a career-best six three-pointers, to lead UNC to an ACC victory over the Lady Tigers at Littlejohn Coliseum. Carolina improved to 14-3 on the season, 4-1 in the ACC. Clemson fell to 10-6 (2-3).
The Tar Heels hit 13 three-pointers, one short of the school record. In addition to Brown's six, Leah Metcalf and Nikki Teasley contributed three each and Kenya McBee hit one.
With center Candace Sutton on the bench nursing a sprained right ankle, freshman McBee made the first start of her career and turned in her best game of the season. McBee scored 17 points and led the team with 12 rebounds, both career bests. Also in double figures were Teasley with 20 points and Metcalf with 15.
Chrissy Floyd's 19 points led Clemson, which had all five starters score in double figures.
UNC led by as many as 10 points midway through the first half, but was up by just four, 47-43, at halftime. Clemson quickly closed the gap and took a 58-53 lead with 14:30 to play. The Lady Tigers held the advantage as late as the 8:07 mark, when Brown hit a three to put UNC ahead for good. The Tar Heels hit eight of their three-pointers in the second half, six within a span of just over five minutes from 12:39 to 7:28 when Carolina went from two down to ahead by five.
Close games have become the norm in the UNC-Clemson series. Including Sunday's Carolina win, the past five regular-season games have been decided by a total of 11 points.
Teasley from three
Senior guard Nikki Teasley heads into the Georgia Tech game with a career total of 202 three-pointers, second in UNC history behind Stephanie Lawrence (227 from 1992-95) and tied for ninth in ACC history.
Teasley is tied for the team lead with 43 three-pointers this year and is shooting a career-best 40.6 percent from long range.
She is tied for eighth in Atlantic Coast Conference history for career three-pointers and is one of just nine players to have hit at least 200 threes.
ACC three-point leaders
1. Jennifer Howard (NC State)-315
2. Tara Saunooke (Clemson)-252
3. Danielle Donehew (Georgia Tech)-241
4. Tammy Gibson (NC State)-230
5. Stephanie Lawrence (UNC)-227
6. Tora Suber (Virginia)-220
7. Karen Lounsbury (Ga. Tech)-205
8. Georgia Schweitzer (Duke)-202
Nikki Teasley (UNC)-202
