North Carolina
ETSU
Freshmen lead Tar Heels to win over ETSU
November 24, 2002 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 24, 2002
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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - With a pair of freshmen leading the way, No. 13 North Carolina defeated East Tennessee State 106-40 Sunday afternoon in a women's basketball matchup at Carmichael Auditorium. The Tar Heels improved to 2-0 with the win, while the visiting Lady Bucs fell to 0-2.
UNC freshman guard Jessica Sell scored a game-high 20 points in 23 minutes of play off the bench. She was 8-for-11 from the field and added four rebounds, five assists and four steals. Forward La'Tangela Atkinson, the other freshman on the Tar Heel roster, turned in her first career double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. She also had four assists, three steals and a block. Atkinson spent 24 minutes on the court, longer than any other Carolina player. None of the team's starters played more than 20 minutes.
"I think this win will help give us confidence, especially for the freshmen," UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell said. "The fact that we got to play everyone was helpful because it gives our depth experience."
All 11 healthy players scored at least two points. (Chrystal Baptist missed the game with an ankle injury, suffered in Friday's win over Davidson, and Elizabeth Coughran and Tiffany Tucker are rehabilitating ACL injuries.) Joining Sell and Atkinson in double figures for UNC were sophomore Nikita Bell (14 points), junior Candace Sutton (13 points) and senior Jennifer Thomas (10 points). Senior guard Coretta Brown, who took just four shots and finished with six points, led the team with seven assists and added four rebounds and two steals with just one turnover. Sophomore Kenya McBee led the Tar Heels with a career-high 13 rebounds as they beat ETSU 58-27 on the boards.
Carolina scored the game's first 11 points and led 21-1 after a three-pointer by Sell with 14:35 to play before halftime. The Lady Bucs hit just one of their first 15 field goal attempts and were 13-for-61 (21.3 percent) for the game. Freshman guards B.J. Banjo and Adrienne Walker led ETSU with nine and seven points, respectively.
"We play teams like Carolina to get better and I don't feel we got better today," said ETSU coach Karen Kemp, whose team plays at Radford on Wednesday. "They are a good team, but we gave up too many easy points in transition."
UNC shot 56.2 percent for the game (45-of-80) and had 29 assists and 22 steals.
The Tar Heels will depart Chapel Hill before dawn on Monday morning, headed for the Rainbow Wahine Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii. Carolina opens play on Nov. 29 at 5:30 p.m. (ET) against DePaul and will play games on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. Other teams in the field are No. 4 Connecticut, Denver, Fordham, Gonzaga, Hawaii and No. 22 Oklahoma.
