University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Meet Colorado Monday
March 23, 2003 | Women's Basketball
March 23, 2003
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format
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Tipoff: NCAA Tournament first round, March 22
The 12th-ranked University of North Carolina women's basketball team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament with a 72-70 win over Austin Peay and will play Colorado Monday for spot in the Sweet 16. Tipoff at the Coors Events Center in Boulder, Colo., is 7:19 p.m. MST (9:19 EST).
The Tar Heels (28-5) are the No. 3 seed in the Mideast Region, while host Colorado (23-7) is the No. 6 seed. The Buffaloes advanced with an 84-58 win over BYU.
On the air
Monday's game will be televised live by ESPN2 with Tracy Warren calling the play-by-play and Patti Phillips providing color commentary.
The game also will be broadcast by the Tar Heel Radio Network. The flagship station is 1360-AM WCHL. Stephen Gates is Carolina's play-by-play announcer and Jan Boxill will provide color commentary.
Game action and live stats are available via the internet at www.TarHeelBlue.com.
Quick facts on UNC
2002-03 Record: 28-5 (13-3 ACC)
Current Rankings: 12th AP, 11th ESPN/USA Today
Head Coach: Sylvia Hatchell (Carson-Newman, 1974)
Career Record: 630-254 (in her 28th season)
Record at UNC: 358-174 (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 is making its 15th appearance in the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament field, its third as a No. 3 seed.
* North Carolina and Colorado have never met in women's basketball.
* North Carolina's trip to the state of Colorado this weekend is the first in the history of the program. The Tar Heels have played in Hawaii, Alaska and even Australia, but never Colorado.
* The Tar Heels are 8-2 in away games this season. UNC won its first eight in enemy territory, but have lost the last two: 97-63 at Duke on Feb. 20 and 69-59 at Virginia on March 2.
* Senior Coretta Brown, who was 6-for-6 from the foul line against Austin Peay, has hit her last 13 free throws and 29 of her last 33. Her season percentage is 83.3, the second-highest season percentage in school history.
* The Tar Heels are 24-0 this season when scoring 70 points or more, 22-0 when shooting at least 40 percent from the field and 24-1 when outrebounding opponents. Carolina's only loss to a team it outrebounded was a 66-63 defeat by Oklahoma on Nov. 30 in Honolulu, Hawaii.
* The Tar Heels are averaging 7.4 three-pointers per game over the last seven contests, with their first-round total of five against Austin Peay the lowest in that span. For the season, they have hit 5.2 threes per game.
* Coretta Brown is UNC's career leader in three-pointers with a total of 249, good for third place on the ACC's career list. Brown also has the program's best career three-point percentage, 38.0.
* With five assists Saturday against Austin Peay, Coretta Brown moved into fourth place on UNC's career list, passing Emily Johnson (511 from 1989-92). Brown now has 512.
* Freshman La'Tangela Atkinson has been named 2003 ACC Rookie of the Year. She is the fifth Tar Heel to claim the honor, the first since Nikki Teasley in 1998.
* Senior Coretta Brown is one of 49 players selected as finalists for Kodak All-America honors. She joins Duke's Alana Beard and Iciss Tillis, Georgia Tech's Sonja Mallory, Clemson's Chrissy Floyd and Siena's Gunto Basko as finalists from Region 2.
* Coretta Brown and Candace Sutton were named first-team All-ACC Tournament for the second year in a row. Sophomore Leah Metcalf and freshman La'Tangela Atkinson were named to the second team.
* Four Tar Heels earned All-ACC postseason honors. Coretta Brown was named All-ACC first team for the second year, Nikita Bell was named to the second team and Candace Sutton earned a spot on the third team. La'Tangela Atkinson led the All-Freshman Team and Bell claimed a spot on the All-Defensive Team.
* Senior forward Jennifer Thomas is the recipient of the 2003 Robin Roberts/WBCA Sports Communication Scholarship Award, announced March 6 by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association.
* As part of its 50th anniversary celebration this year, the Atlantic Coast Conference has named 50 top athletes in each of its sports and 50 top athletes overall. UNC led the women's basketball list with 11 and also led overall list with 15. The grand finale was the announcement on March 13 of the top 10 male and female athletes in conference history. Two UNC women's basketball players were named to the list, Marion Jones at No. 2 and Charlotte Smith at No. 10. Carolina's Mia Hamm was No. 1 and swimmer Sue Walsh was No. 6, giving UNC four of the top 10 women's athletes in ACC history. Carolina had three on the men's list: No. 1 Michael Jordan, No. 7 Lawrence Taylor and No. 9 Phil Ford.
Noting the Austin Peay game
* With the 72-70 win over Austin Peay Saturday, UNC improved to 10-2 in first-round games. The win was just second for the Tar Heels in first-round games played away from Chapel Hill.
* The two-point margin made for UNC's closest NCAA Tournament game since the Tar Heels' 60-59 win over Louisiana Tech in the 1994 championship.
* Junior Chrystal Baptist's 11 rebounds tied her season high.
* Baptist's 11 rebounds, all offensive, were the most on the offensive boards by a Tar Heel this season.
* Freshman La'Tangela Atkinson led UNC in rebounds with 12, her 12th double-digit rebounding game of the season.
* UNC's 25 offensive rebounds against APSU stands as the team's third-highest total of the season. The Tar Heels had 27 offensive boards against Elon (Dec. 17) and 26 against Virginia in the ACC Tournament (March 9).
* Carolina's total of 14 turnovers was the team's lowest since committing 14 in a Feb. 2 win over Georgia Tech. The team has had 14 or fewer turnovers in just four games this season (including the APSU game).
Scouting the Colorado Buffaloes
Colorado, the No. 6 seed in the Mideast Region, is 23-7 on the season following an 84-45 first-round win over BYU Saturday. Four CU players scored in double figures. led by 21 points from Kate Fagan. The junior guard hit six of her 10 three-point attempts and added five rebounds in 27 minutes of play. Senior forward Sabrina Scott added 12 points, junior center Tera Bjorklund 11 and senior forward Linda Lappe 10.
On the season, Bjorklund, an All-Big 12 and All-Big 12 Tournament pick, leads the team in scoring with 17.6 points per game and in rebounding with 6.7 per game. Fagan is next, averaging 10.8 points. Also in double figures is Scott with 10.1 per game.
The Buffaloes are coached by Ceal Barry, who is 395-214 in her 20th season with the program.
Colorado is not ranked, but is receiving votes in both polls. The team is making its 11th NCAA appearance, its third in a row.
The UNC-CU series
UNC and Colorado have never met in women's basketball. The Tar Heels are 7-6 all-time against current members of the Big 12 Conference.
The teams' only common opponent this season was Oklahoma. UNC lost 66-63 to the Sooners at the Rainbow Wahine Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Nov. 30. Colorado has beaten Oklahoma twice, 61-57 in Boulder on Feb. 16 and 73-68 in the Big 12 Tournament on March 12 in Dallas, Texas.
Raining threes
Over the last seven games, the Tar Heels have averaged 7.4 three-pointers per game, up from their season average of 5.2 per game. Against Maryland on Feb. 27, UNC hit a season-high 10 threes. The Tar Heels equalled that mark against Virginia in the ACC semifinals on March 9. In that game against the Cavaliers, UNC was 10-for-14 (71.4 percent) from long range.
UNC's five three-pointers against Austin Peay marked the team's lowest total since hitting three in a loss to Duke on Feb. 20.
Carolina has hit 170 three-pointers this season. Last year, the Tar Heels set school and conference records with 236.
Free throws anything but
All season, the Tar Heels have struggled from the free throw line, shooting 60.8 as a team. That percentage ranks last in the nine-team ACC and 309th among NCAA Division I teams (through games of March 10).
Oddly, UNC's percentage is significantly better in road games (67.8) than at home (58.2) or neutral sites (59.0). UNC's percentage is slightly higher in losses (62.0) than wins (60.7).
The good news is that Carolina has shown signs of improvement in recent games. The Tar Heels have shot better than 70 percent from the line just 10 times this season, but five times in the last eight games. Over the last eight games, UNC is shooting 69.6 from the foul line.
* Tar Heels who are struggling from the foul line can take inspiration from senior Coretta Brown, who has the best season percentage of her career and the second best in school history, hitting 83.3 percent of her shots (90-108). Prior to this season, Brown's best season percentage was 72.0, in 2002. In her freshman and sophomore seasons, her percentage was in the 60s.
Brown bound for Final Four(s)
Whether or not the Tar Heels make the Final Four, Coretta Brown will be there. In fact, if she's not playing in Atlanta with UNC, she'll compete at both the men's and the women's events. Brown has been invited to compete in the three-point shooting portion of the Slam Dunk and Three-Point Shooting Championship, held in conjunction with the men's Final Four in New Orleans. She'll then travel to Atlanta for the WBCA All-Star Challenge at the women's Final Four. Brown is one of 20 seniors invited to participate in the all-star game.
