Carolina Travels To Virginia For Monday Matchup

Feb. 6, 2005

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Tip-off
Following a homecourt win over Clemson in which they scored a season-high 99 points, the Tar Heels travel to Charlottesville, Va., for a women's basketball matchup with the Virginia Cavaliers. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. and the game will be televised by the Regional Sports Networks (Fox Sports South, Comcast, Sunshine Network).
The Tar Heels are 18-3 on the season and 6-2 in the ACC after Friday's 99-55 victory. Virginia is 16-6 overall, 5-3 in the league, coming off a 62-56 loss at No. 25 NC State on Thursday.
Carolina is ranked ninth in this week's Associated Press poll and sixth in the coaches' poll. Virginia is not ranked but is receiving votes in both polls.

Up next
Carolina hosts Virginia Tech on Friday at Carmichael Auditorium. The two have played eight times (UNC leads the series 6-2), but have not met since 1995. Friday's game is the start of the ACC rivalry between the two.

On the air
Monday's will be televised on the Regional Sports Networks (Fox Sports South Net, Comcast, Sunshine Network). Fox Sports South Net will air the game live, while Sunshine will air it delayed at 11 p.m. and Comcast will air it delayed at 1:30 a.m.
Beth Mowins will provide play-by-play and Debbie Antonelli will handle color commentary.
The 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.

UNC at a glance
2004-05 record 18-3 (6-2 ACC)
Current rankings 9th A.P., 6th ESPN/USA Today
Head coach Sylvia Hatchell
Career record 672-265 (30th season)
Record at UNC 400-185 (19th season)
Assistant head coach Andrew Calder
Assistant coaches Tracey Williams, Charlotte Smith-Taylor

Briefly ...

UNC leads the series with Virginia 35-31 after winning the last four matchups and seven of the last eight. Carolina's last loss in Charlottesville was in the 2002-03 season (69-59 on March 2, 2003).

Friday's win over Clemson was Sylvia Hatchell's 400th at UNC. Hatchell, in her 19th season at North Carolina, is the third ACC coach to reach that mark at his or her current school. The others are NC State's Kay Yow (612 in 30 years) and Virginia's Debbie Ryan (607 in 28 years). Hatchell was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in June and is in her 30th season as a head coach.

Senior Nikita Bell has scored 14 points in each of the last two games, wins over Georgia Tech and Clemson. She was averaging 8.7 points per game heading into the Georgia Tech contest and is now up to 9.2. Over the last two games, she is 13-for-17 from the field.

Senior Leah Metcalf is one assist away from moving into a tie for 23rd on the ACC career assists list. Metcalf is 24th with 462 assists. At No. 23 is Clemson's Melinda Ashworth (1983-86) with 463.

Freshman forward Erlana Larkins has earned ACC Rookie of the Week honors in each of the last three weeks and a total of four times this season.

The Tar Heels have won all 12 of their home games this season, 10 at Carmichael and two at the Smith Center. The team's home winning streak now stands at 14, 12 in a row at Carmichael. UNC's women and men (11-0 at home following a Thursday night win over NC State, 95-71) are both undefeated in Chapel Hill this season.

Noting the numbers

Since giving up 79 points in a 79-73 overtime loss at Florida State on Jan. 20, UNC has held its last four opponents to an average of 52 points per game.

Carolina leads the nation in steals with 14.9 per game. The Tar Heels moved into first on the NCAA stats through Jan. 31 games, passing Arkansas. Nikita Bell averages a team-best 2.7 per game and Camille Little is next with 2.6.

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.

Ivory Latta leads the team in minutes played with 32.6 per game. No other Tar Heel averages more than 28.4 (Camille Little) minutes per game.

UNC's statistical leaders
Scoring: Erlana Larkins, 15.6 ppg
Field goal percentage: Erlana Larkins, .640 (119-186)
Three-point percentage: Camille Little, .438 (14-32)
Free throw percentage: Ivory Latta, .908 (59-65)
Rebounding: La'Tangela Atkinson, 7.5 per game
Assists: Ivory Latta, 4.8 per game
Steals: Nikita Bell, 2.7 per game
Blocks: LaToya Pringle, 1.5 per game
Minutes: Ivory Latta, 32.6 per game

The UNC-Virginia series
UNC and Virginia will meet Monday for the 67th time in a series that dates back to the 1975-76 season. The Tar Heels lead the series 35-31 after winning the last four matchups and seven of the last eight.
The Cavaliers won 14 in a row over the Tar Heels from 1986-87 (Sylvia Hatchell's first season as the UNC coach) to 1991-92, and 21 of 23 from 1986-87 to 1995-96. Since the start of the 1996-97 season, Carolina has won 16 of the 21 meetings.

UNC's last loss in the series came 69-59 in Charlottesville, Va., on March 2, 2003, in the final game of the 2002-03 season. The Cavaliers have won three of the last five games at University Hall.

Carolina and Virginia have met three times in each of the last two seasons. The Tar Heels won 88-78 in the 2003 ACC Tournament semifinals and 64-45 in the 2004 ACC Tournament quarterfinals.

After suffering a pair of losses to the Cavaliers during the 1993-94 regular season, Carolina defeated Virginia 77-60 to win the 1994 ACC Championship and claim the first of Hatchell's four crowns as the UNC coach.

Scouting the Cavaliers
Virginia is 16-6 on the season and 5-3 in the ACC following a 62-56 loss at No. 25 NC State on Thursday. The defeat broke a three-game winning streak for the Cavaliers, who had beaten Dartmouth (83-70) and Virginia Tech (70-67) at home then won at No. 24 Florida State (77-62) last Monday.
Brandi Teamer leads Virginia in scoring with 12.7 points per game and LaTonya Blue is right behind, averaging 12.6 points per game. Jocelyn Logan-Friend is third in scoring at 9.5 ppg. All three players average more than six rebounds per game, Logan-Friend at 6.5, Teamer at 6.1 and Blue at 6.0.

Monday's matchup with UNC is Virginia's third in a row against a ranked opponent.

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Players Mentioned

Nikita Bell

Erlana Larkins

Ivory Latta

Camille Little

Leah Metcalf

LaToya Pringle

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