Tar Heels Host Miami Monday

Jan. 16, 2005

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Tip-off
The North Carolina women's basketball team plays its first home Atlantic Coast Conference game of the season Monday afternoon, hosting Miami at Carmichael Auditorium at 2 p.m.
The Tar Heels are 13-2 on the season and 1-1 in the ACC following a 77-75 win at NC State Friday night. Miami, in its first year in the ACC, is 8-7 overall and 0-2 in conference play.
Carolina is tied for ninth in this week's Associated Press poll and is ranked No. 8 in the coaches' poll. Miami is not ranked.

Up next
Next up for UNC is the team's third ACC road contest in a four-game span. The Tar Heels travel to Tallahassee, Fla., this week to face Florida State Thursday night. The game tips off at the Tucker Center at 7 p.m. and will be televised by the Sunshine Network.

On the air
The game between UNC and Miami will be televised by the Regional Sports Networks (Fox Sports South Net, Comcast and Sunshine Network). Beth Mowins will provide the play-by-play and Dan Bonner will add color commentary.
Monday's game also will air on the Tar Heel Radio Network, which includes 12 stations. WCHL-AM 1360 in Chapel Hill is the flagship. Jones Angell is the Tar Heels' play-by-play announcer and Adam Pohl is the color commentator.
Live stats are available on the UNC website, www.TarHeelBlue.com.

Tickets
General admission tickets to UNC women's basketball games are $7 for adults and $5 for students and seniors. A limited number of reserved seats are also available at $10 for adults and $7 for students and seniors.
Tickets may be purchased at the Carmichael Auditorium ticket window prior to the game or through the UNC ticket office by calling (919) 962-2296 or (800) 722-HEEL.
North Carolina students, faculty and staff are admitted free with their UNC One Cards.

UNC at a glance
2004-05 record 13-2 (1-1 ACC)
Current rankings Tied for 9th A.P., 8th ESPN/USA Today
Head coach Sylvia Hatchell
Career record 667-264 (30th season)
Record at UNC 395-184 (19th season)
Assistant head coach Andrew Calder
Assistant coaches Tracey Williams, Charlotte Smith-Taylor
Media contact Dana Gelin
Gelin's phone/email (919) 962-0083/dgelin@uncaa.unc.edu
UNC athletics website www.TarHeelBlue.com
UNC ticket office (919) 962-2296, (800) 722-4335
Home arena Carmichael Auditorium (cap. 10,180)
Press row number (919) 843-9509

Briefly ...

UNC leads the series with Miami 3-2. The teams last met during the 1991-92 season, when the host Hurricanes won 86-72.

Senior Nikita Bell heads into Monday's game with 997 career points. Upon scoring three more points, she'll become the 22nd UNC player to reach the 1,000-career-points mark. Bell will be the only player on this year's team to have reached that landmark, but senior Leah Metcalf is 91 points away.

The Tar Heels open ACC play with three road games in their first four contests. UNC split games at Maryland and NC State before returning home to host Miami. Next up is a Thursday game at Florida State.

Ivory Latta is coming off a 10-for-10 free throw shooting performance against NC State. Her current streak stands at 18 in a row, with her last miss coming against Georgia State on Dec. 19, and her season percentage of .929 (39-42) is the best in the ACC. The Carolina record for season free throw percentage is .863 by Nikki Teasley in 2002.

Carolina's top three scorers are a freshman (Erlana Larkins) and two sophomores (Ivory Latta, Camille Little). Between them, they account for 53 percent of the team's points.

For the first time in school history, UNC beat two ranked teams in the month of November. The Tar Heels won games against No. 4 Connecticut (Nov. 21) and Nov. 24 Villanova (Nov. 27). Following the loss to Maryland, UNC is 2-1 this season against ranked teams.

The Tar Heels' win over No. 4 Connecticut was the program's first against a top-five team since UNC beat the Huskies in the 1994 East Region final to advance to the Final Four. UConn was ranked No. 4.

At the conference media day in October, North Carolina was picked as the preseason favorite to win this year's ACC title. The Tar Heels received 20 of 40 votes, two more than defending champion Duke. Ivory Latta and Camille Little were named to the Preseason All-ACC team.

UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in June. She is in her 30th season as a head coach.

Noting the numbers

In ACC play, Carolina's opponents are shooting .526 (59-112). Prior to the conference season, just one opponent (Penn State, .500) had shot .500 against UNC. Both conference opponents have bettered that mark.

UNC is 11-0 this season when outrebounding opponents. Seven of those games have been at home and three have been at neutral sites. Before outrebounding NC State 38-25 on Friday, the Tar Heels had been outrebounded in all three of their previous road games, a win at UNLV (38-33), a loss at Penn State (33-32) and a loss at Maryland (49-35).

In each of the last two games, UNC has finished with 77 points after scoring 31 in the first half and 46 in the second.

Ivory Latta leads the team in minutes played with 31.2 per game. No other Tar Heel averages more than 27 minutes per game.

Through 15 games, the Tar Heels' scoring leaders, Erlana Larkins and Ivory Latta, have scored 234 points each (15.6 per game).

Five Tar Heels average more than nine points per game. After Larkins and Latta, Camille Little is scoring 11.7, La'Tangela Atkinson 9.5 and Nikita Bell 9.1.

Ivory Latta hit double figures in assists two games in a row with 13 against Georgia State and 10 against Lipscomb. Prior to the Georgia State game on Dec. 19, her career high for assists was seven. Over the last five games, she is averaging 7.0 assists.

Freshman forward Erlana Larkins is the only UNC player to have scored in double figures in every game this season. Her career low is 10 points, against UT-Martin on Dec. 2.

UNC's statistical leaders
Scoring: Erlana Larkins and Ivory Latta, 15.6
Field goal percentage: Erlana Larkins, .654 (85-130)
Three-point percentage: Camille Little, .435 (10-23)
Free throw percentage: Ivory Latta, .929 (39-42)
Rebounding: La'Tangela Atkinson, 7.5 per game
Assists: Ivory Latta, 5.1 per game
Steals: Camille Little, 2.6 per game
Blocks: LaToya Pringle, 1.7 per game
Minutes: Ivory Latta, 31.2 per game

The UNC-Miami series
UNC and Miami will meet Monday for the sixth time in a series that dates back to the 1980-81 season. Carolina leads the series 3-2. The teams last met in the 1991-92 season, when the host Hurricanes won 86-72 in an NCAA Tournament second round game on March 21, 1992. The only game in the series played in Chapel Hill was a 75-69 Miami win on Feb. 29, 1988.
The teams have yet to play a common opponent this season.

Scouting the Hurricanes
Miami is 8-7 overall and 0-2 in its first season of ACC play. The Hurricanes opened conference competition on Jan. 9 with a 65-56 loss at Florida State. Their most recent game was a 78-63 homecourt loss to Wake Forest on Thursday. Junior guard/forward Tamara James scored 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds against the Demon Deacons.
James leads the conference in scoring by a wide margin, averaging 24.5 points per game and shooting .526 from the field. She also is the team's top rebounder with 6.8 per game. The only other Hurricane in double figures is senior guard Yalonda McCormick with 11.9 points per game.
The team averages 66.1 points per game, shooting 40.6 from the field. Miami is coached by Ferne Labati, who is in her 17th season with the program.

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University of North Carolina Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Nikita Bell

Erlana Larkins

Ivory Latta

Camille Little

Leah Metcalf

LaToya Pringle

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