University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC Travels To Reynolds Coliseum Friday
February 6, 2003 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 6, 2003
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format
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Tipoff: No. 7 UNC travels to NC State, Feb. 7
The University of North Carolina women's basketball team (19-2, 8-1 ACC) travels to Raleigh Friday for an Atlantic Coast Conference matchup with NC State (9-11, 4-5 ACC). Tipoff at Reynolds Coliseum is 7 p.m.
The Tar Heels are tied for seventh in this week's Associated Press poll, and are No. 6 in the ESPN/USA Today/WBCA coaches' poll. NC State is not ranked.
Next up for UNC is another ACC road game, at Wake Forest on Sunday afternoon.
On the air
Friday's game will be televised live by the Regional Sports Networks (Fox Sports Net South, Comcast and the Sunshine Network). Beth Mowins will call the play-by-play and Debbie Antonelli will provide color commentary.
The game also will be carried live 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 color commentary.
Game action is available via the internet at www.TarHeelBlue.com.
Quick facts on UNC
2002-03 Record: 19-2 (8-1 ACC)
Current Rankings: Tied for 7th AP, 6th USAToday/ ESPN
Head Coach: Sylvia Hatchell (Carson-Newman, 1974)
Career Record: 621-251 (in her 28th season)
Record at UNC: 349-171 (in her 17th season)
Assistant Head Coach: Andrew Calder
Assistant Coaches: Tracey Williams, Charlotte Smith-Taylor
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 trails 47-25 in the series with NC State, but has won the last three matchups and four of the last six.
* Carolina's 80-71 win over NC State last year in Raleigh was the Tar Heels' first win at Reynolds since 1994. UNC has beaten the Wolfpack on its home court just five times and has never done so in back-to-back years.
* Carolina's next win will be the 350th for Sylvia Hatchell as head coach of the Tar Heels. In her 17th season in Chapel Hill, she is 349-171.
* Senior Coretta Brown is 24 points away from hitting the 1,500-point mark for her career. She heads into Friday's game with a career total of 1476, which ranks 14th in UNC history.
* In ACC games, sophomore Leah Metcalf has an assist-turnover ratio of 2.44 (4.9 assists, 2.0 turnovers), best in the league. In all games, her ratio of 1.86 ranks third. Metcalf hasn't committed a turnover in the last two games and she has just one in the last three games while averaging 25.3 minutes.
* Sophomore Nikita Bell is the reigning ACC Player of the Week. In last week's three games, she averaged 21.0 points, better than her career single-game high of 18 points heading into the week. Over the last three games, she is shooting 60.9 percent from the field.
* UNC's current rankings of seventh in the Associated Press poll and sixth in the coaches' poll are the team's highest since the 1998-99 season.
* Coretta Brown now has a career total of 211 three-pointers. She is the third Tar Heel and the 10th player in ACC history to hit 200 three-pointers.
* Freshman La'Tangela Atkinson is the reigning ACC Rookie of the Week, her sixth such honor. She shared this week's award with Maryland's Chrissy Fisher after averaging 9.3 points and 10.0 rebounds in three games.
* Three Tar Heel women's basketball players are among the 50 greatest female athletes in ACC history, according to the list released this week by the conference. Marion Jones, Tracy Reid and Charlotte Smith were among 15 Carolina athletes on the list, the most of any school. UNC also led the list of male athletes with 12.
UNC's statistical leaders
Scoring: Coretta Brown (13.4 points per game)
Rebounding: La'Tangela Atkinson (8.6 per game)
Assists: Coretta Brown (4.9 per game)
Steals: Nikita Bell (2.8 per game)
Blocks: Candace Sutton (1.4 per game)
Minutes per game: Coretta Brown (33.3 per game)
Tar Heels in the NCAA statistical rankings
Scoring offense: 13th (78.2 ppg.)
Scoring margin: 7th (20.1 ppg.)
Field goal percentage: 22nd (45.8)
Field goal percentage defense: 9th (34.7)
Rebounding margin: 2nd (11.3)
Assists: 21st (17.8 per game)
Win-loss percentage: 4h (19-2, 90.5)
Scouting the NC State Wolfpack
NC State is 9-11 overall and 4-5 in conference play heading into Friday's game with UNC. The Wolfpack is coming off a 74-72 overtime loss at Maryland on Saturday. Senior guard Amelia Labador led NC State in scoring with 18 points and junior forward Alvine Mendeng was the team's top rebounder with 13.
On the season, junior center Kaayla Chones is NC State's leading scorer with 15.2 points per game and also leads the team in rebounding with 8.2 boards per game, 8.8 against ACC teams.
NC State is coached by Kay Yow, who is 577-260 in her 28th year with the program.
The North Carolina-NC State series
Friday's game will be the 73rd meeting between UNC and NC State in a series that dates back to the 1974-75 season, Carolina's first as a varsity program. Neither team has faced any opponent more times.
NC State leads the series 47-25, but UNC has won the last three and four of the last six. Prior to that, the Wolfpack had won five in a row.
* Last year's 80-71 UNC win at Reynolds Coliseum was the Tar Heels' first win there since 1994. Coretta Brown and Nikki Teasley scored 23 points each to lead Carolina to victory on Feb, 10, 2002. UNC outrebounded NC State 41-33 to overcome 50 percent shooting by the Wolfpack.
This year's first meeting
Jan. 5, 2003: No. 11 UNC 80, NC State 59
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) - Sophomore forward Nikita Bell scored 12 of her 18 points in the second half as No. 11 North Carolina pulled away from North Carolina State en route to an 80-59 victory. Coretta Brown also scored 12 in the second half and 17 overall, and Leah Metcalf added 14 for North Carolina (12-1, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference).
Kaayla Chones led NC State (6-7, 1-1) with 16 points and 10 rebounds for her fourth double-double this season and the 17th of her career.
Brown scored nine points during North Carolina's 19-3 run that put the game away. She went 4-for-6 on 3-pointers, and made one to give North Carolina a 75-52 lead with 3:08 to play.
North Carolina held the Wolfpack to 7-for-27 shooting in the first half and led 35-25 at the break. Carolina won the rebounding battle 47-36, led by a career-high 11 boards from senior forward Jennifer Thomas.
Last time out: Jan. 30, 2003
No. 7 North Carolina 76, Georgia Tech 64
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The Tar Heels completed a sweep of the regular-season matchups against Georgia Tech with a 76-64 win at Carmichael Auditorium. Four Carolina players scored in double figures, led by senior Coretta Brown's 17 points. The senior guard hit three of her five three point attempts and all six of her free throw attempts. She also had seven assists.
Nikita Bell added 12 points and Candace Sutton scored 11. La'Tangela Atkinson registered her seventh double-double of the season with 10 points and 12 assists.
Mallorie Winn came off the bench to lead Georgia Tech with 21 points in 19 minutes of play. She scored eight unanswered points in the game's final 1:32 to close UNC's 17-point lead to eight with 25 seconds to play. Fallon Stokes had 13 for the Yellow Jackets and Alex Stewart scored 11.
In a battle of the two best rebounding teams in the ACC, Carolina outrebounded the visitors 42-33.
Bell of the ball
Sophomore forward Nikita Bell is the reigning ACC Player of the Week following a string of outstanding performances. In three games last week, she averaged 21.0 points, more than she had ever scored in a single game. (Her career high coming into the week was 18.) Bell scored a career-high 30 points in a win at Maryland on Jan. 27 and followed that with 21 against Virginia on Jan. 30 and 12 against Georgia Tech on Feb. 2. Over that span, she shot 60.9 percent from the field and averaged 5.3 rebounds and 3.0 steals.
Bell, who has the team's second-best vertical leap and is also one of the squad's strongest players, ranks 12th in the ACC in scoring (12.3 ppg), 17th in rebounding (5.2), fourth in field goal percentage (52.2) and third in steals (2.75 per game). In ACC games only, she ranks second in field goal percentage to NC State's Kaayla Chones, shooting 52.9 percent.
