North Carolina
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Western Michigan
No. 9 Tar Heels Rally Past Western Michigan, 79-76
January 23, 2003 | Women's Basketball
Jan 23, 2003
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KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) - North Carolina braved Michigan's near-zero temperatures Thursday night for one reason: to give senior forward Jennifer Thomas, a native of Lathrup Village, Mich., a homecoming game.
The ninth-ranked Tar Heels just didn't figure on running into the nation's hottest 3-point-shooting team, Western Michigan.
ut Thomas had the last say. She picked up a loose ball with 10 seconds left, helping to preserve a 79-76 come-from-behind win for North Carolina.
The Tar Heels (16-2) rallied from 15 points down in the second half.
"It was a big game for me," said Thomas, who had 20 family members and friends at the game. "I'm just happy we came out with the win."
Give senior guard Coretta Brown a big part of the credit for North Carolina's rescue. She scored 26 points on 8-of-15 shooting - her second 26-point effort in her last four games - and had six assists with zero turnovers in 37 minutes.
"She might have convinced me tonight she's the player of the year," Western head coach Ron Stewart said of the Naismith College Basketball Player of the Year candidate.
The Tar Heels, who also got 18 points from Nikita Bell, desperately needed that help. Already reeling from Monday's overtime loss to top-ranked Duke, North Carolina ran into a shooting machine.
Western scored more points against the Tar Heels than any team had in regulation this season. The Broncos' 10 3-pointers were the most given up by the Tar Heels, whose field-goal defense (.328) is fourth-best in the nation.
The Broncos (10-5) were just the second team - No. 22 Oklahoma was the other - to hit 40 percent of its shots against the Tar Heels.
Casey Rost, last year's Mid-American Conference Player of the Year, led Western with 22 points and had four 3-pointers. Point guard Curleta Harris had 20 points and four 3-pointers.
"They are a great team," North Carolina head coach Sylvia Hatchell said of Western. "They were coming off screens and just making incredible shots."
Two baskets by Rost in the first two minutes of the second half gave Western a 52-41 lead, but North Carolina's tough zone defense allowed her just one basket the remainder of the game.
Western missed 13 of 16 3-point attempts in the second half. Bell scored eight of her 18 points during an 18-4 run by North Carolina that pulled the Tar Heels within one point, 63-62, with 7:44 left in the game.
The Tar Heels pulled ahead for good with 5:44 left when Bell hit a basket for a 68-67 lead. North Carolina's La'Tangela Atkinson had a career-high 14 rebounds, as the Heels outrebounded Western 51-30.
