Jan. 8, 2006
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Tipoff
The North Carolina women's basketball team (14-0) plays its second Atlantic Coast Conference game and first league road game of the season on Monday, when the Tar Heels travel to take on Miami (11-2). Tipoff at BankUnited Center is 7 p.m. and the game will be televised live by the Regional Sports Networks as part of the ACC women's basketball television package. The game is the second of three consecutive UNC games that will be televised.
The Tar Heels are ranked fifth in both the Associated Press poll and the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll. The Hurricanes are not ranked.
On the air
Monday's game will be televised live by the Regional Sports Networks (RSN) - Fox Sports Net South, Comcast SportsNet and Sun Sports. Debbie Antonelli will call the play-by-play and Beth Mowins will provide color commentary.
The game will not air locally on radio.
Live game statistics are available on the internet at www.TarHeelBlue.com.
Next up
Following the Miami game, Carolina will play another road game, this one quite a bit closer to home. After a six-day break, the Tar Heels will travel to Raleigh to meet NC State on Sunday. Tipoff is 5 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally by Fox Sports Net.
UNC's next home game is on Jan. 18 against Georgia Tech.
UNC at a glance
2005-06 record 14-0 (0-0 ACC)
2004-05 record 30-4 (12-2 ACC)
Current rankings 5th A.P., 5th ESPN/USA Today
Head coach Sylvia Hatchell
Career record 698-266 (31st season)
Record at UNC 426-186 (20th season)
Assistant head coach Andrew Calder
Assistant coaches Tracey Williams-Johnson, 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. 8,010)
Carmichael Auditorium press row number (919) 843-9509
Briefly ...
The Tar Heels have opened the season 14-0 for the first time since 1994-95, when UNC won its first 18 before falling 74-72 at Duke on Jan. 25, 1995. Carolina is one of four NCAA Division I teams (through Saturday's games) that remain undefeated, along with Tennessee, Duke and LSU.
UNC leads the series with second-year ACC member Miami 5-2. The Tar Heels won both of last year's meetings, the first in ACC regular season play and the second in the ACC Tournament.
Monday's game is a homecoming for Erlana Larkins, the only UNC player from the state of Florida. Larkins is from Riviera Beach and attended The Benjamin School in North Palm Beach. She led her team to four state championship and six final fours and was named Florida's Miss Basketball in her junior and senior years. Larkins played against Miami's Tamara James and Albrey Grimsley in high school.
Carolina is coming off its highest points total of the season - 102 vs. Clemson on Friday - and the program's first back-to-back 100-point games since the 2001-02 season.
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.
Junior Ivory Latta has hit at least one three-pointer in 42 consecutive games and currently ranks 17th in ACC history with 190 career threes. She needs two to take over 16th place and four to take over 15th.
Junior Camille Little is 17 points away from reaching the 1,000-career-points milestone. She would be the 26th player in school history and third on this year's team (joining Ivory Latta and La'Tangela Atkinson) to achieve that feat.
Sylvia Hatchell, in her 31st season as a head coach, is two wins away from reaching the 700-mark for her career. She would become the fifth Division I coach to reach that milestone.
Senior La'Tangela Atkinson is now one of the top 10 rebounders in UNC history. With a career total of 862, she ranks 10th on the school's total rebounds list. She needs nine to take over ninth place from Kathy Crawford (870, 1980-83).
Although just a sophomore, LaToya Pringle is now tied for 10th in UNC history in career blocks with a total of 69.
Carolina is 3-0 this season against teams ranked in the Associated Press poll, with wins over No. 16 Arizona State, No. 8 Connecticut and No. 19 Vanderbilt. The Tar Heels were 6-2 last season against teams ranked in the A.P. poll.
Carolina has won 22 consecutive games at Carmichael Auditorium and 27 in a row in Chapel Hill (including five at the Dean E. Smith Center). The total is a school record and ranks as the third-longest current home winning streak in the nation.
Team captains for the 2005-06 season are senior La'Tangela Atkinson, junior Ivory Latta and sophomore Erlana Larkins.
Noting the numbers
Six different players - La'Tangela Atkinson, Heather Claytor, Erlana Larkins, Ivory Latta, Camille Little, and LaToya Pringle - have led the team in scoring or tied for the team lead in scoring at least once this season.
Seven of UNC's 13 players are shooting 50 percent or better from the field. Ten are shooting better than 42 percent.
Ivory Latta's current field goal percentage of .513 is up nearly 10 percent from last year, when she shot .420. Her shooting percentage has continued to climb since she shot .362 from the field as a freshman.
As a team, Carolina is shooting .401 from three-point range, up from .317 last season. The school record is .363, set in 1992.
UNC has shot better than .500 from the field in five of its last six games: (.564 vs. Wofford, .585 vs. Coastal Carolina, .548 vs Vanderbilt, .455 vs. ODU, .557 vs. College of Charleston, .543 vs. Clemson). The Tar Heels are shooting .496 for the season.
Only three teams - Arizona State (.560), Vanderbilt (.489) and Clemson (.411) - have shot better than .400 against UNC this season.
Erlana Larkins's field goal percentage of .670 would rank fifth in the nation if she had the minimum five field goals per game to appear in the rankings. (She has 4.5 per game.)
LaToya Pringle is averaging 7.5 rebounds over last two games. She led UNC with a career-high eight against College of Charleston then tied for the team lead with seven against Clemson.
UNC's statistical leaders
Scoring: Ivory Latta, 17.4 points per game
Rebounding: Erlana Larkins, 6.4 per game
Assists: Ivory Latta, 6.2 per game
Steals: Erlana Larkins, 2.6 per game
Blocks: LaToya Pringle, 1.7 per game
Minutes: Ivory Latta, 27.4 per game
Field goal percentage: Erlana Larkins, .670 (63-94)
Three-point percentage: Heather Claytor, .500 (29-58)
Free throw percentage: Alex Miller, 933 (14-15); Ivory Latta, .860 (49-57),
Scouting the Miami Hurricanes
Miami is 11-2 on the season and 1-0 in ACC play following a 75-63 win at Georgia Tech on Thursday. The Hurricanes have won their last four games, including a 79-70 victory over No. 25 Mississippi on Dec. 29.
Tamara James leads the team with 21.7 points per game, the highest average in the ACC. Also in double figures are Renee Taylor (14.8 ppg) and Melissa Knight (12.2 ppg). James is also the team's top rebounder with 8.3 per game and Brittany Denson is second with 6.5 boards per game.
The Hurricanes are in their second year in the ACC. They are coached by Katie Meier, who is in her first season with the program.
The Tar Heels and Hurricanes have not faced any common opponents thus far in the season.
The series against Miami
North Carolina leads Miami 5-2 in a series that dates back to the 1980-81 season. The Tar Heels have won both of the schools' ACC meetings, 83-52 in Chapel Hill in last year's regular season game (Jan. 17, 2005) and 64-57 at the 2005 ACC Tournament (March 5) in Greensboro, N.C.
efore the Tar Heels won two last season, Miami had won the last two in a row. The Hurricanes won 86-72 in a 1992 NCAA Tournament second round game played in Coral Gables. Prior to that, Miami won the teams' only nonconference meeting in Chapel Hill, 75-69 on Feb. 29, 1988, in coach Sylvia Hatchell's second season at UNC.
