University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Wake Forest
No. 14 Tar Heels Rally Past Wake Forest, 90-79
January 2, 2004 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 2, 2004
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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Freshman guard Ivory Latta scored 30 points and freshman forward Camille Little totaled 28 as the North Carolina women's basketball team earned its first Atlantic Coast Conference win of the season Friday, 90-79 over visiting Wake Forest. No. 14 UNC improved to 11-1 overall, 1-0 in the ACC. The Demon Deacons fell to 7-6 (0-2 ACC).
Wake Forest led by as many as 13 points in the first half, going up 23-10 on an Erin Ferrell basket with 11:10 remaining in the half. Carolina took its first lead of the game at 34-33 with 4:16 to play in the half and ran its advantage to 41-35 by the break.
The Tar Heels stretched their advantage to 12 points early in the second half, but Wake Forest chipped away and eventually grabbed a two-point lead at 68-66 on a pair of free throws by Jennifer Johnson with 7:56 remaining. The teams were tied at 72-72 with five minutes to play, but UNC went on an 11-1 run with Latta hitting back-to-back three-pointers. She scored 10 points in the final four minutes of the game and Little had six.
Ferrell led Wake with a career-high 22 points, Liz Strunk added a career-high 18 and Cotelia Bond-Young came off the bench for 16. The Demon Deacons' 79 points is the highest total scored against UNC so far this year, and their 46.0 percent shooting is the best by a Tar Heel opponent.
"I thought Wake Forest played great," UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell said. "From what I saw tonight, that's the best Wake Forest team they've had in a long time."
In scoring her career-high 30 points, Latta was three-for-three from three-point range and 11-for-15 from the foul line. She also had a team-high six assists. Little, too, hit a career high for scoring and led UNC with 13 rebounds for her third double-double of the year.
"Those two play with so much confidence," Hatchell said. "To have them do this in their first ACC game makes you think, `Whoa, the next four years are going to be fun.' One factor, though, is that other teams don't know them as well. They know how to defend our other players that they've seen before, but they haven't played against Ivory and Camille."
Junior Nikita Bell scored 12 points for UNC, 10 of them in the first half.
UNC gets just one day off before playing its second conference game. The Tar Heels host Clemson, also 11-1 and 1-0 in ACC play, on Sunday at 2 p.m.
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