University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
DePaul
Tar Heels Down DePaul, 82-66, In Rainbow Wahine Classic Opener
November 29, 2002 | Women's Basketball
Nov 29, 2002
HONOLULU, Hawaii - With five players scoring in double figures, the North Carolina women's basketball team defeated DePaul 82-66 Friday afternoon to open play in the Rainbow Wahine Classic Friday at the University of Hawaii's Stan Sheriff Center. No. 11 UNC (3-0) will play Saturday at 5:30 p.m. Hawaii time (10:30 ET) against the winner of Friday's matchup between No. 23 Oklahoma and Fordham.
Senior guard Coretta Brown led the Tar Heels with 14 points, 12 of which came in the first half when she hit four of her five three-point attemps. Freshman forward La'Tangela Atkinson came off the bench to score 12 points and grab a game-high 10 rebounds for her second double-double in three games. Junior center Candace Sutton and sophomore guard Leah Metcalf scored 11 points each and sophomore forward Nikita Bell added 10, along with seven rebounds. All 10 Carolina players who saw action in the game scored.
Senior center Jamie Smith scored 16 points to lead four Blue Demons in double figures. Smith also was the team's top rebounder with nine.
DePaul led 7-2 early after three-pointers by Sarah Kustok and Ashley Luke. The Tar Heels grabbed their first lead at the 14:10 mark on a basket by senior forward Jennifer Thomas and held onto it for the rest of the game. Their largest advantage of the game was 19 points, after a three-pointer by freshman guard Jessica Sell with 16:46 remaining in the game.
Carolina won the rebounding battle 49-35, but committed 18 turnovers to 12 by DePaul. "We got on the boards well and played a lot of people," UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell said. "We made some mistakes, but we'll get better."
The Tar Heels shot 60.6 percent in the first half and hit six of their seven three-point attempts to take a 51-37 lead into the break. They shot just 33.3 percent in the second half to finish 47.0 for the game.
UNC played two games in Chapel Hill last weekend before flying to Hawaii on Monday. Since then, the Tar Heels have stayed busy with two practices, a luau, tours of the island of Oahu and of the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, and time on the beach, among other things. The Tar Heels say they were ready to finally take the court.
"It is Hawaii and we're having fun, but we're here to win the tournament, too," said Brown, one of the Carolina captains. "The coaches did a good job of making sure we were focused and ready to play today."
