University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
UT Martin
No. 2 UNC Cruises Past Tennessee-Martin, 96-36
December 2, 2004 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 2, 2004
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) - La'Tangela Atkinson has been close to perfect lately.
In her last two games, Atkinson has gone 13-for-13, including 4-for-4 beyond the arc. She's helped No. 2 North Carolina roll over two overmatched opponents as the Tar Heels gear up for a game Sunday at tougher-than-inicated Penn State.
On Thursday, the Tar Heels also got 16 points from LaToya Pringle and beat Tennessee-Martin 96-36.
"I've been telling Tangie since the first day she stepped on campus to shoot more," North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell said. "It's rare you have to tell a player that. Tangie is one of those rare players."
Atkinson went 6-for-6, including one 3-pointer, to score 13 one night after hitting all seven of her shots in a win over Wofford.
"It's shot selection, the team working the ball inside and then passing it back out to me. I'm wide open," Atkinson said. "I can knock down a wide-open shot."
Atkinson, a 6-foot-1 junior, averaged 8.2 points in North Carolina's first five wins.
"I've been working on my shot for a long time," she said. "It's starting to show up."
Five Tar Heels scored in double figures as North Carolina (7-0) won its second game in two nights and its fourth in six days. North Carolina is off to its best start since going 7-0 in 1996-97. The best start ever for the Tar Heels was 18-0 games to open the 1994-95 season.
The victory over Tennessee-Martin the easiest of the young season.
Ivory Latta led North Carolina's starters with 15 points and five assists. Nikita Bell added 12 points and Erlana Larkins chipped in 10.
"This game was a real confidence-builder for me," Pringle said. "College ball is a lot different from high school or AAU, so the more I can play, the more comfortable I'll be."
The Skyhawks (1-4) sustained their third straight defeat. No UTM starter had more than Andreika Jackson's five points. Reserve Deina Willingham came off the bench to score a team-high eight points.
"They've got one heck of a team," said Tennessee-Martin's first-year coach Tara Tansil. "When they sub you don't see any drop-off in talent at all."
Tansil tried to get her Skyhawks to not back down from the taller and quicker Tar Heels, but to no avail.
"The one thing we talked about was being aggressive about getting to the basket, and that's the one thing we did not do," Tansil said.
North Carolina ended up hitting 36 of 66 shots (54.5 percent), and outrebounded the Skyhawks 49-29. The Tar Heels held the Skyhawks to 25.9 percent shooting (15-for-58), and 16.7 percent (5-for-30) in the second half.
North Carolina scored on seven of its first eight possessions, took a 16-0 lead and was up 49-21 by halftime.
North Carolina held the Skyhawks scoreless for a stretch of 8:26 in the second half and without a basket for 10:18.
"We didn't do a good job at all with fundamentals, and they're a great defensive team," Tansil said. "That's where our 21 turnovers came from."
