University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Maryland
With Five In Double Figures, No. 16 UNC Tops Maryland
February 19, 2004 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 19, 2004
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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - With all five starters scoring in double figures, the North Carolina women's basketball team defeated visiting Maryland 79-64 Thursday evening at Carmichael Auditorium. The No. 16 Tar Heels improved to 19-5 overall and 9-4 in the Atlantic Coast Conference with the win, while the Terrapins fell to 15-10 (7-7).
Freshman guard Ivory Latta led the Tar Heels with 13 points, and three players - freshman Camille Little, junior Nikita Bell and senior Candace Sutton - scored 12 each. Sophomore La'Tangela Atkinson was the fifth UNC player in double figures with 10 points and led the Tar Heels in rebounding with nine.
Maryland senior Delvona Oliver led her team with 14 points and Vicki Brick, also a senior, came off the bench to add 11. Freshman Kalika France had seven rebounds to lead a team effort that saw the Terrapins beat UNC, the top rebounding team in the ACC, 47-39 on the boards.
"I'm pleased that we had five players in double figures, but I'm not pleased that we lost the boards the way we did," said UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell, whose team has been outrebounded on just four previous occasions this season. "Overall, I thought we played hard and it was a good team effort even when we seemed to get in a little foul trouble."
Three UNC players - Little, Sutton and junior guard Leah Metcalf - finished the game with four fouls each. The Tar Heels have not had a player foul out of a game this season.
Maryland led by three, 28-25, with 2:35 remaining in the first half, but the Tar Heels tied the score on a three-point play by senior Carrie Davis and took the lead as Little and Bell hit two free throws each. With UNC up by three, Latta hit a three-pointer with a second on the clock to give her team a 35-29 advantage at the break. "It was tough to have Latta hit a shot like that," Brick said. "There was a defender in her face. That definitely took away some momentum."
The Tar Heels held the lead throughout the second half, increasing it to as many as 20 with 7:33 to play. After hitting just 35.7 percent of its shots in the first half, Carolina was 50.0 percent from the field in the second half. The win snapped a two-game losing streak for UNC, which had suffered homecourt losses to NC State and Duke in its last two outings. "You learn from losing," Hatchell said, "and we've gotten better."
Maryland shot 32.4 percent for the game and committed 20 turnovers to 15 by UNC. "Carolina did a tremendous job," said Maryland coach Brenda Frese. "They gave us a lot of different problems in every aspect of the game. I'm proud of our team that we hung in there and never gave up."
The Tar Heels return to action on Monday with a 7 p.m. game at Georgia Tech. Maryland hosts Duke on Sunday at noon.
