Feb. 16, 2006
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Tipoff
The North Carolina women's basketball team (23-1, 10-1 ACC) travels to Virginia Tech (17-6, 4-6) on Friday for the Tar Heels' final road game of the regular season. Tipoff at Cassell Coliseum is 6:30 p.m. and the game will be televised live by the Regional Sports Networks (Fox Sports Net South, Comcast, Sun Sports) as part of the Atlantic Coast Conference women's basketball package.
The Tar Heels fell from the No. 1 spot this week following their Feb. 9 overtime loss to Maryland and are now ranked No. 3 in the Associated Press poll and No. 2 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll. UNC continues to receive a handful of first-place votes: one in the A.P. poll and five in the coaches' poll.
The Hokies are not ranked but are receiving votes in both polls.
Friday's game is the teams' first meeting of the season. Virginia Tech and UNC met in Chapel Hill last season, with the Tar Heels winning 93-67 on Feb. 11, 2005.
On the air
Friday's game will be televised live by the Regional Sports Networks, which include Fox Sports Net South, Comcast and Sun Sports. Beth Mowins is the play-by-play announcer and Charlene Curtis will provide color commentary.
The game also will air on the Tar Heel Radio Network, which includes eight stations across the state of North Carolina. WCHL-AM 1360 in Chapel Hill is the flagship. Taylor Zarzour is the Tar Heels' play-by-play announcer and Jan Boxill provides color commentary. The broadcast is available live on XM Satellite Radio channel 191.
Radio broadcasts and live game statistics also are available on the internet at www.TarHeelBlue.com.
Next up
Next up for UNC are back-to-back home games to end the regular season. The Tar Heels host No. 18 Boston College on Monday and No. 1 Duke on Saturday (Feb. 25) at Carmichael Auditorium before turning their attention to the ACC Tournament, which will be played March 2-5 in Greensboro, N.C.
UNC at a glance
2005-06 record 23-1 (10-1 ACC)
Current rankings 3rd A.P., 2nd ESPN/USA Today
Head coach Sylvia Hatchell
Career record 707-267 (31st season)
Record at UNC 435-187 (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 ...
North Carolina got back in the wins column with a 72-60 victory at Virginia on Sunday. Prior to that, the Tar Heels suffered their first loss of the season, 98-95 in overtime to then-No. 6 Maryland at home on Feb. 9.
UNC's 22-0 start to the season was the best by any team in Atlantic Coast Conference women's basketball history and the Tar Heels were the final undefeated team in NCAA Division I basketball this season.
Carolina leads the series with Virginia Tech 7-2. The Tar Heels last played in Blacksburg during the 1994-95 season, winning 57-52 on Dec. 30, 1994, in the Diamond Club Classic. Carolina is 1-1 all-time at Virginia Tech, with the loss coming in 1981-82.
Ivory Latta has recently been selected as one of 20 midseason candidates for the Wooden Award. She and sophomore Erlana Larkins both were among the 30 preseason candidates for the award.
Ivory Latta is one of 11 nominees for the Nancy Lieberman Award, given to the nation's top point guard. The list of nominees was released last Friday and the winner will be announced during the Final Four. Latta was a finalist for the award last season.
UNC signee Jessica Breland (Windsor, N.C./Bertie H.S.) was announced this week as one of 20 WBCA High School All-America selections. She will join the Tar Heels for the 2006-07 season.
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. Latta now has 216, the 10th-best total in ACC history, and has made at least one three-pointer in 52 consecutive games. She needs five to move into ninth place.
With the Jan. 15 win at NC State, UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell became the fifth NCAA Division I women's basketball coach to earn 700 career wins. She is in her 31st season as a head coach and her 20th season at UNC.
With a 15-rebound performance, equal to her career high, in the Jan. 29 game at Duke, senior La'Tangela Atkinson passed the 900-rebounds mark for her career. She is just the ninth player in school history to total that many. With her current total of 937, she ranks 20th in ACC history and seventh in school history.
UNC is 6-1 this season against teams ranked in the A.P. poll, with wins over No. 16 Arizona State, No. 8 Connecticut, No. 19 Vanderbilt, No. 25 NC State, No. 2 Duke and No. 24 NC State, and a loss to No. 6 Maryland. The Tar Heels were 6-2 last season against teams ranked in the A.P. poll.
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.
Team captains for the 2005-06 season are senior La'Tangela Atkinson, junior Ivory Latta and sophomore Erlana Larkins.
Noting the numbers
The 98 points scored by Maryland on Feb. 9 was the highest total UNC had given up since a 102-82 loss to Duke on Jan. 24, 2002. Heading into the game, UNC was holding opponents to an ACC-low 54.4 points per game this season, with no opponent having scored more than 80 points. The Tar Heels now rank second in the ACC, with opponents averaging 56.5 points.
Seven different players - La'Tangela Atkinson, Heather Claytor, Christina Dewitt, 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.
As a team, Carolina is shooting .384 from three-point range, up from .317 last season. The school record for single-season team percentage is .363, set in 1992. Eleven of the 14 players on the UNC roster have made at least one three-pointer this season.
Freshman Heather Claytor and junior Ivory Latta rank fourth and seventh in the ACC statistics for three-point percentage, Claytor at .463 and Latta at .447. Latta ranks second in the league with 2.63 three-pointers per game. Claytor is now 13th with 1.58 per game after having gone 1-for-7 over the last five games.
Six teams - Arizona State (.560), Vanderbilt (.489), Clemson (.411), Duke (.431 on Jan. 29), Georgia Tech (.404 on Feb. 5) and Maryland (43.5) - have shot better than .400 against UNC this season. Opponents are shooting .359 from the field against the Tar Heels.
Ivory Latta leads the ACC in free throw percentage at .862. Last year she shot .863, which tied the school record.
LaToya Pringle is tied for the league lead with an average of 2.36 blocks in conference games. She now ranks seventh in school history with a career total of 92. Her current season total of 47 already ranks as the eighth-best single-season total in school history.
UNC's statistical leaders (Followed by ACC rank)
Scoring: Ivory Latta, 17.7 points per game (2)
Rebounding: Erlana Larkins, 6.6 per game (12)
Assists: Latta, 5.4 per game (4)
Steals: Larkins, 2.3 per game (3)
Blocks: LaToya Pringle, 1.96 per game (T4)
Minutes: Latta, 30.3 per game
Field goal percentage: Larkins, .615 (115-187) (3)
Three-point percentage: Heather Claytor, .463 (38-82) (4)
Free throw percentage: Latta, .862 (81-94) (1)
Scouting the Virginia Tech Hokies
Virginia Tech is 17-6 on the season and 4-6 in the ACC coming off a 76-69 win at Florida State on Monday. Carrie Mason led the Hokies with 27 points in a nearly-perfect night, shooting 7-for-8 from the field, 6-for-7 from three-point range and 7-for-7 from the foul line. Dawn Chriss added 17 points and Kerri Gardin 10 as Virginia Tech hi 51.8 percent of its shots.
On the season, Mason is the team's leading scorer with 12.8 points per game. Just behind her are Gardin with 12.5 per game and Chriss with 12.3 per game. Gardin is the teams' top rebounder with 9.6 boards per game, best in the ACC. Mason is third in the league in three-point percentage, hitting 46.4 percent of her shots.
The Hokies are coached by Beth Dunkenberger, who is in her second season with the program.
