205-06 Season Review

2005-06 UNC Season Notes in PDF Format
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Season wrap-up
The North Carolina women's basketball team finished the 2005-06 season 33-2, equalling the best record in school history. The Tar Heels achieved the program's first in-season No. 1 ranking, won the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season and tournament championships and reached the Final Four for the first time since 1994. In opening the year 22-0, they set an ACC record for best start to a season.
Sylvia Hatchell, in her 20th season with the program and 31st as a head coach, became the fifth coach in Division I history to reach the 700-career-wins mark.

UNC at a glance
2005-06 record 33-2 (13-1 ACC)
Final rankings 1st A.P., 3rd ESPN/USA Today
Head coach Sylvia Hatchell
Career record 717-268 (31 seasons)
Record at UNC 445-188 (20 seasons)
Assistant head coach Andrew Calder
Assistant coaches Tracey Williams-Johnson, Charlotte Smith-Taylor
UNC athletics website www.TarHeelBlue.com
UNC ticket office (919) 962-2296, (800) 722-4335
Home arena Carmichael Auditorium (cap. 8,010)

Briefly ...

In 2006, UNC reached the Final Four for the second time in school history. The only previous time, 1994, the Tar Heels won the NCAA title.

North Carolina played as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament field for the second year in a row and the third time in school history. In 2005 and '06, UNC fell to the eventual champion, Baylor in the region final in 2005 and Maryland in the national semifinal in 2006. UNC's other No. 1 seed was in 1997, when the Tar Heels lost in the region semifinal.

UNC's total of 33 wins tied the school record for victories in a season and the overall record of 33-2 tied the mark for best record, set by the 1994 NCAA championship team.

UNC's two losses in 2005-06 were the fewest by any NCAA Division I team.

Junior Ivory Latta was named to the Associated Press All-America team after receiving the second-highest number of votes. She was the first Tar Heel player since Tracy Reid in 1998 to earn A.P. first-team honors. La'Tangela Atkinson, Erlana Larkins and Camille Little received A.P. All-America honorable mention.

Latta was named national player of the year by ESPN.com, Basketball Times, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association and Gballmag.com, and was the recipient of the Nancy Lieberman Award as the nation's top point guard. She was the runner-up for Associated Press Player of the Year honors and was a finalist for the Wooden Award and the Naismith Award. She also was the WBCA National Player of the Month for February.

UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell, in her 20th season in Chapel Hill, was named national coach of the year by the Associated Press, the WBCA, Basketball Times and the U.S. Basketball Writers Association. She also was the recipient of the Naismith Award.

With the Jan. 15 win at NC State, Hatchell became the fifth NCAA Division I women's basketball coach to earn 700 career wins.

Team captains for the 2005-06 season were senior La'Tangela Atkinson, junior Ivory Latta and sophomore Erlana Larkins.

Records falling
The Tar Heels set several school records during the 2005-06 season:

In opening the year 22-0, UNC set an Atlantic Coast Conference record for best start to a season.

With a total of 248 three-pointers, UNC broke the old record of 236 by the 2001-02 team.

With 638 assists, UNC bested the old mark of 595 by the 2001-02 team.

With 190 blocks, UNC edged the old record of 187 by the 1993-94 team.

With a team free throw percentage of .724, UNC broke the old record of .719, set in 2004-05.

With a season three-point percentage of .451 (41-91), freshman Heather Claytor set the single-season mark. The record was held by Stephanie Lawrence, who shot .405 (60-148) in 1994.

Milestones

With 10 rebounds against Tennessee in the region final, La'Tangela Atkinson passed the 1,000-career-rebounds mark and became the first player in ACC history with 1,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 350 assists. She finished her career with 1,235 points, 1,012 rebounds and 374 assists. Atkinson is the only player in school history to rank among UNC's career top-10 in rebounds (sixth) and assists (10th).

With two three-pointers against Florida State on Jan. 22, Ivory Latta became just the 12th player in ACC history to hit 200 threes in her career. She finished the season with 238, second in school history and sixth in ACC history. Latta ranks 13th in school history in scoring and seventh in assists.

Although only a rising junior, LaToya Pringle already ranks fifth on UNC's career list for blocks with 120. Her 2005-06 total of 75 ranks as the fourth-best single-season total in school history.

UNC's statistical leaders for 2005-06
Scoring: Ivory Latta, 18.4 points per game
Rebounding: Erlana Larkins, 7.2 per game
Assists: Latta, 5.2 per game
Steals: Latta, 2.3 per game
Blocks: LaToya Pringle, 2.1 per game
Minutes: Latta, 32.1 per game
Field goal percentage: Pringle, .583 (60-103)
Three-point percentage: Heather Claytor .451 (41-91)
Free throw percentage: Latta, .852 (138-162); Alex Miller, .857 (30-35)

ACC Final Three
As a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, UNC was part of a history-making trio. With No. 1 seeds North Carolina and Duke and No. 2 seed Maryland all advancing to the Final Four, the ACC became the first conference ever to have three teams playing in the national semifinals. Prior to this year, the ACC had never had more than one team in the Final Four.

Noting an outstanding season

With the Feb. 17 win at Virginia Tech, UNC finished the road portion of its regular-season schedule undefeated for the first time in school history. The Tar Heels went 9-0 at opponents' home gyms and 3-0 at neutral sites. UNC's only loss of the regular season came at home, to Maryland in overtime on Feb. 9. The loss ended a 30-game homecourt winning streak.

UNC's 22-0 start to the season was the best by any team in ACC women's basketball history and the Tar Heels were the final undefeated team in NCAA Division I basketball in 2005-06. UNC's first loss was to Maryland in overtime (98-95) on Feb. 9.

The NCAA Tournament first-round win over UC Riverside gave UNC its fourth 30-win season in school history and marks the second time such seasons have come back-to-back. Carolina's other 30-win seasons were in 1993-94 (33-2), 1994-95 (30-5) and 2004-05 (30-4).

With the Feb. 20 win over Boston College on Feb. 20, the Tar Heels reached 25 wins for the ninth time in school history. All of those 25-win campaigns have come in the last 13 years.

With the Jan. 29 victory at Duke, the Tar Heels registered their 18th 20-win season in school history, their 13th in the last 15 years and their fifth in a row.

The Tar Heels finished their nonconference slate without a loss for the first time since the 1994-95 season, when Carolina won its first 18 games, including 12 nonconference contests.

Streaks, ongoing and otherwise

The national semifinal game against Maryland was the 100th career appearance for juniors Ivory Latta and Camille Little. Latta made her 97th career start, Little her 98th. Neither has missed a single game at UNC.

Ivory Latta did not have a three-pointer in the region semifinal against Purdue, breaking a streak of 60 consecutive games with a three. The last time she had not hit a three-pointer in a game was when she went 0-for-4 against Wofford on Dec. 1, 2004. She hit three in the region final against Tennessee to move into second on UNC's career list with 237, passing Nikki Teasley (236 from 1998 to 2002), and finished the year with 238.

Noting the 2006 ACC Tournament run
UNC won its seventh championship, its sixth under coach Sylvia Hatchell and its second in a row with a 91-80 victory against fourth-ranked Maryland on March 5 in Greensboro, N.C.
Carolina played in the championship game for the 11th time in the last 13 years.
Junior Ivory Latta was named ACC Tournament MVP for the second year in a row. She was joined on the all-tournament team by Erlana Larkins, Camille Little and La'Tangela Atkinson (second team).

ACC Honors
The Tar Heels' top five scorers all earned Atlantic Coast Conference postseason honors. Junior Ivory Latta and sophomore Erlana Larkins were named to the All-ACC first team, junior Camille Little was named to the All-ACC third team, senior La'Tangela Atkinson was named to the ACC All-Defensive team and freshman Rashanda McCants was named honorable mention ACC All-Freshman team.
It marked the first time since 2001-02 that two Tar Heels were named to the All-ACC first team. Nikki Teasley and Coretta Brown both earned first-team honors that year.

UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell was selected the 2006 ACC Coach of the Year. The conference honor comes in her 20th season with the Tar Heels and is the second of her career. She also was honored with the award in 1997.

Junior guard Ivory Latta was named ACC Player of the Year for 2006. She became the fourth Tar Heel to earn the honor, the first since Tracy Reid in 1998. (Reid won in both 1997 and '98, Pam Leake in 1985 and '86 and Tresa Brown in 1984.)

Back at No. 1
With the win over top-ranked Duke on Feb. 25, North Carolina earned the No. 1 spot in both polls for the second time during the season. The first was at the end of January, in the A.P. poll of Jan. 30 and the coaches' poll of Jan. 31, marking UNC's first appearance at No. 1 in an in-season poll. The Tar Heels' only previous No. 1 ranking was in the postseason coaches' poll in 1994 after winning the NCAA championship.
UNC held the top spots for two weeks before suffering its only loss of the regular season, 98-95 in overtime to Maryland on Feb. 9.

Hatchell reaches 700
With the Tar Heels' Jan. 15 win at NC State, UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell became the fifth NCAA Division I coach to earn 700 career wins. She joined three current coaches - Tennessee's Pat Summitt, Texas' Jody Conradt and Rutgers' C. Vivian Stringer - and former LSU coach Sue Gunter in reaching the milestone.
Hatchell reached 700 in the 966th game of her career with an overall record of 700-266. With that win, she was 428-186 in her 20th season at UNC.
Two other NCAA women's coaches, one in Division II and one in Division III, had previously reached the 700-wins mark. Phil Kahler of Division III St. John Fisher College in Rochester, N.Y., reached 700 career wins on Jan. 10, 2004. The latest prior to Hatchell to join the elite club was Barbara Stevens, the coach at Division II Bentley College in Waltham, Mass. She earned her 700th win on Jan. 5, 2006.
Hatchell's 600th career win came on March 3, 2002, with a 58-52 victory over NC State in the ACC Tournament in Greensboro, N.C. Her 500th win also came against the Wolfpack, 67-64 on Jan. 22, 1998, in Chapel Hill. The first win of Hatchell's career was on Jan. 14, 1976, when she led Francis Marion to an 88-62 victory over Voorhees.

UNC vs. ranked opponents
The Tar Heels were 11-2 during the season against teams ranked in the A.P. top 25, with wins over No. 16 Arizona State, No. 8 Connecticut, No. 19 Vanderbilt, No. 25 NC State, No. 2 Duke, No. 24 NC State, No. 17 Boston College, No. 1 Duke, No. 4 Maryland, No. 11 Purdue and No. 6 Tennessee, and losses to No. 6 Maryland and No. 3 Maryland.
UNC is now 96-170 all-time against teams ranked in the A.P. poll, 25-91 against top 10 teams and 2-19 against No. 1 teams.

The 11 wins against A.P. top-25 teams during the 2005-06 season marked the most ever for UNC. The Tar Heels won 10 games against ranked teams in 1997 and in 1998.

Beyond the arc
The 2005-06 UNC squad proved itself to be one of the best three-point shooting teams in school history. Carolina's only three-pointer against Purdue on March 26 gave UNC 236 for the season, equal to the school record, which was set by the 2001-02 team. The Tar Heels finished the season with a team total of 248.
The Tar Heels also broke the school record for three-point percentage in a season, shooting 36.4 (248-682). The old mark was 36.3 (186-152), by the 1991-92 team. UNC's percentage was up from 31.7 in the 2004-05 season.

Freshman Heather Claytor set a school record for single-season three-point percentage, shooting .451 (41-91) from the field. The old mark was 40.5 (60-148) by Stephanie Lawrence in 1993-94.

UNC made 10 or more three pointers seven times during season. The season high was 13 at Miami, where the Tar Heels' total fell one short of tying the school single-game record. UNC did set one school record in that game with 32 three-point attempts, surpassing the previous mark of 30, set against Richmond during the 2001-02 season.

Carolina's low for three-pointers during the season was one, in the NCAA region semifinal against Purdue, in which UNC was a season-worst .091 from long range.
The worst shooting half of the season came in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals game against Virginia, when UNC was 0-for-12 from three in the first half. UNC was 0-for-4 in the first half against Purdue.

Passing 1,000
On Jan. 15 at NC State, junior Camille Little became the 26th player in UNC history to score 1,000 career points. She reached the landmark on a free throw at the 14:48 mark in the second half and finished the game with 12 points for a career total of 1,003.
Senior La'Tangela Atkinson was the first player to reach 1,000 during the 2005-06 season. She scored her 1,000th career point early in the first half of the Dec. 17 game against Coastal Carolina.
Junior Ivory Latta was the third member of the 2005-06 roster to have reached 1,000. She scored her milestone point in 2005 NCAA Tournament regional semifinal game at Arizona State and was just the second player in school history to reach 1,000 as a sophomore.

Latta has already passed 1,500, having scored 645 points during her junior season. She is the 10th player in school history to score more than 500 points in each of two seasons. Only two Tar Heels - Tonya Sampson and LaQuanda Barksdale - have scored 500 or more points in each of three seasons.

Starting five
The UNC starting lineup changed for the only time during the season in the game against Coastal Carolina on Dec. 17, when senior Jessica Sell, who started the first nine games, did not play due to illness. Sophomore LaToya Pringle made her first career start in Sell's place. Sell returned to the starting lineup against Vanderbilt and remained there for the rest of the season.
Senior La'Tangela Atkinson, juniors Ivory Latta and Camille Little and sophomore Erlana Larkins started all 35 games.

Contributions from the bench
Three times during the season, UNC got more than half its points from the bench. The Tar Heel reserves accounted for 43 points in an 83-43 win over UNC Asheville, 60 points in a 92-38 win over Charleston Southern and a season-high 61 in a 101-48 win over College of Charleston.
Against Charleston Southern, freshman Heather Claytor was the leading scorer with 14 points, sophomore Alex Miller tied her career high with nine and freshman Rashanda McCants had eight on 3-for-3 shooting in 11 minutes of playing time. Junior Camille Little was the only starter in double figures with 13 points, and the starters played an average of just 13 minutes.
Against College of Charleston, starter Ivory Latta led the scoring with 14 points, but Claytor was next with 12 and LaToya Pringle came off the bench for 11. No starter was on the court for more than 17 minutes. In the first-round NCAA Tournament game against UC Riverside, McCants led UNC with 15 points off the bench. The total was one off her career high. The bench accounted for 30 points in the game.

For the season, the Tar Heel bench averaged 26.5 points per game (928 points in 35 games), led by McCants' average of 5.8 points, fifth on the team. Pringle is averaged 5.4 points per game, freshman Christina Dewitt 4.7 per game, Miller 4.4 and Claytor 4.3

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