University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Take On Virginia Sunday
March 9, 2003 | Women's Basketball
March 9, 2003
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Tipoff: No. 11 UNC in the ACC Semifinals, March 9
The University of North Carolina women's basketball team (26-4 overall, 13-3 ACC) continues Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament play on Sunday with a semifinals game against Virginia (16-12, 9-7), the tournament's third seed. Tipoff at Greensboro Coliseum is 3:30 p.m.
The Tar Heels are ranked 11th in this week's Associated Press poll and ninth in the ESPN/USA Today/WBCA coaches' poll. Virginia is not ranked.
On the air
Sunday's game will be televised live nationally by Fox Sports Net. Beth Mowins will call the play-by-play and Debbie Antonelli will provide color commentary.
Sunday's game will not be broadcast locally on radio due to a conflict with the UNC men's basketball game against Duke, which tips off at 4 p.m.
Live stats will be available on the ACC website, www.TheACC.com.
News of note
* The North Carolina-Virginia series is tied at 31-31 following the Cavaliers' 69-59 win last Sunday in Charlottesville, Va., in the regular-season finale for both teams.
* The Tar Heels and Cavaliers have met nine times in ACC Tournament play with UNC winning seven times. The last tournament meeting was in 2000, when the fifth-seeded Tar Heels knocked off the top-seeded Cavaliers in the semifinals, 67-63.
* Two of UNC's three worst shooting percentages of the season have come in games against the Cavaliers. This season, Carolina is averaging 33.3 percent from the field and 20.0 percent from three-point range against Virginia, well below the squad's season averages of 44.0 and 33.0.
* With four three pointers against Clemson Saturday, senior guard Coretta Brown became UNC's career leader in that category with a total of 238. She passed Nikki Teasley, who hit 236 during her career (1998-2000, 2002). Brown's career three-point percentage, currently 37.6, also is the school's best.
* Coretta Brown needs four three-pointers to take over third place on the ACC's career list. Danielle Donehew, who currently holds that spot, hit 241 from 1997-2000.
* With four assists against Virginia on March 2, Coretta Brown passed the 500-mark for her career. Currently at 505, she is the fifth UNC player and the 18th ACC player to reach that milestone.
* With 20 points against Clemson, Coretta Brown moved into 12th place on UNC's career scoring list, passing Bernadette McGlade (1977-80). Brown now has a career total of 1,622. McGlade, now Associate Commissioner of the ACC, scored 1,604 during her career.
* With 20 points against Clemson, junior center Candace Sutton became the 21st UNC player to reach the 1,000-career-points mark. Sutton came into the game eight shy of that milestone and now has 1,012.
* North Carolina is 23-0 this season when leading or tied at halftime, 22-0 this season when scoring 70 points or more and 22-0 when shooting 40 percent or better from the field.
* While the Tar Heels have struggled from the foul line this season, shooting 60.6 percent, they've picked up the pace recently. Over the last five games, including Saturday's win over Clemson, UNC has shot 74.1 percent (80 of 108) from the line. Against the Lady Tigers, UNC's starters were 13-13 from the line and the team was14-19.
* With a 94-77 victory Feb. 27 against Maryland, UNC reached the 25-win mark for the seventh time in school history, all in the last 10 seasons. The win gave Carolina a 15-1 homecourt record for the season.
* Four Tar Heels earned All-ACC honors earlier this week. 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 Thursday by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association.
The North Carolina-Virginia series
Sunday's game will be the 63rd meeting of the women's basketball teams from Virginia and UNC. The series dates back to the 1975-76 season, when UNC beat the Cavaliers 49-40 in Charlottesville in the teams' first matchup, Feb. 6, 1976.
The series is tied at 31-31 following Virginia's victory a week ago, March 2, in the final game of the regular season. The Cavaliers won 69-59 in Charlottesville as UNC had its worst shooting day of the season.
UNC won the season's first meeting, 74-54 in Chapel Hill on Jan. 30. The Tar Heels have 12 of the last 17 games in the series. Prior to that, Virginia had won 21 of 23 games, including a 14-game streak that lasted from the 1986-87 season - Sylvia Hatchell's first as the coach at UNC - until the 1994 ACC Championship game.
* Results of the last four matchups, all double-digit wins (the first three by UNC and the most recent by Virginia), are atypical in the recent series between UNC and Virginia. Nine of the last 17 matchups have been decided by five points or less. During that span, the teams have played to overtime on four occasions: two single overtime contests, one double overtime and one triple overtime.
* Two of UNC's three worst shooting percentages of the season have come in games against the Cavaliers. On Jan. 30 at home, Carolina shot a then-season-low 36.0 percent from the field in a 74-54 win. On March 2 at Virginia, the Tar Heels turned in their lowest percentage of the season, 30.3, in a 69-59 loss.
