University of North Carolina Athletics
NCAA Tournament - Semifinal Notes
April 2, 2006 | Women's Basketball
April 2, 2006
Recap | Box Score | Quotes | Photo Gallery
GAME - TEAM NOTES
o North Carolina trailed at halftime for just the third time this season (and first time in the past 15 games), when Maryland took a 36-34 lead at the break tonight. The only other times this season that the Tar Heels were down at intermission were at Old Dominion on Dec. 29 (trailed 40-37; won 88-80 OT) and at second-ranked Duke on Jan. 29 (trailed 40-27; won 74-70).
o After having a positive or even assist/turnover ratio in 13 of their first 15 games this season, the Tar Heels finished on the negative side of that ledger 15 times in their final 20 games, including six of eight postseason games (and three of five in the NCAA Tournament).
o Maryland's .560 field goal percentage (28-of-50) tied a UNC opponent season high. Arizona State also made 28 of 50 shots back on Nov. 25.
o Tonight marked UNC's first loss away from home this season. Before tonight's setback vs. Maryland, North Carolina had been 19-0 away from home, going 9-0 in opponent's arenas and 10-0 at neutral sites (3-0 regular season, 7-0 postseason).
o Prior to tonight's game, North Carolina had a total of four disqualifications (by three players) during the course of the entire season, and never more than one player was lost in any single game. Tonight, the Tar Heels had three players foul out against Maryland.
o North Carolina allowed 81 points this evening, the most the Tar Heels have yielded in NCAA Tournament play since March 24, 2003, when Colorado handed UNC an 86-67 loss in a Midwest Region second-round game at Boulder, Colo.
o The 11-point margin of defeat was the largest for North Carolina in a single game since Jan. 9, 2005 (a span of 55 games), when Maryland downed the Tar Heels, 92-77 in College Park, Md.
GAME - INDIVIDUAL NOTES
o Sophomore F Erlana Larkins registered her fifth double-double of the season (12th career) with a career-high 28 points and 10 rebounds. Three of Larkins' five double-doubles this year came in the postseason (vs. Maryland in the ACC Tournament; vs. Vanderbilt in the NCAA Tournament; vs. Maryland in the NCAA Final Four), as did her former career high in scoring (26 vs. Maryland in the ACC Tournament final on March 5). It was the eighth time this season (14th career) that Larkins led the team in scoring, and the team-best 17th time this season (28th career) she led the Tar Heels in rebounding.
o Junior PG Ivory Latta fouled out of a game for the first time in 52 games, dating back to last season. The last time Latta fouled out of a game was Jan. 20, 2005, in a 79-73 overtime loss at Florida State. Coming into tonight's game, Latta had committed 50 fouls in 34 games (1.47 per game) this season.
NCAA TOURAMENT NOTES
o North Carolina was making its second Women's Final Four appearance, having won the championship in 1994.
o UNC was a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the third time in school history and second time in as many seasons. In 1997, the Tar Heels were upset in the East Regional semifinals by George Washington, and last year, they fell to eventual national champion Baylor in the Tempe Regional final.
SEASON - TEAM NOTES
o This season marked the second consecutive 30-win campaign for North Carolina and the fourth in the program's 32-year history. The Tar Heels went 33-2 in 1993-94, 30-5 in 1994-95 and 30-4 in 2004-05.
o North Carolina set a new ACC and school record this season by opening the campaign with a 22-0 record. The previous ACC record was a 20-0 mark set by Duke in 2002-03 (and matched by the Blue Devils this year), while UNC's prior best debut was an 18-0 start in 1994-95 - that had been the school record for the longest winning streak in a single season before this year's run. The Tar Heels' record for the longest winning streak at any time is 32 games (Feb. 12, 1994-Jan. 22, 1995).
o UNC won its third ACC regular-season title (second outright) in 2006, having also earned the crown in 1997 and 2005 (shared with Duke). North Carolina's 13-1 record matched its third-best league mark ever, topped only by a 15-1 record in 1996-97 and a 14-2 ledger in 1993-94 (UNC went 13-3 in 2002-03).
o North Carolina won its seventh ACC Tournament championship, and second in a row, in 2006. The Tar Heels have hoisted the ACC postseason hardware in 1984, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2005 and 2006.
o North Carolina went 11-2 this season against teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 (5-2 vs. AP top 10), setting a school record for victories over ranked opponents in one year (prior record: 10-2 in 1996-97 and 10-5 in 1997-98). The only AP Top 25 team to defeat the Tar Heels this season was Maryland - in addition to tonight's win, the Terps also claimed a 98-95 overtime win over UNC on Feb. 9 in Chapel Hill.
o North Carolina used virtually the same starting lineup for every game this season. Ivory Latta, Camille Little, La'Tangela Atkinson and Erlana Larkins started all 35 games to date, while Jessica Sell started 34 of 35. The only deviation came on Dec. 17 vs. Coastal Carolina, when LaToya Pringle started in place of Sell, who was sick.
o UNC set school records this season for three-point field goals made (248; old record was 236 in 2001-02), assists (638; old record was 595 in 2001-02) and blocked shots (190; old record was 187 in 1993-94). The Tar Heels also established single-season school standards for three-point percentage (.364; old record was .363 in 1991-92) and free throw percentage (.724; old record was .719 in 2004-05).
SEASON - INDIVIDUAL NOTES
o Junior PG Ivory Latta won both the ACC Player of the Year and the ACC Tournament Most Valuable Player awards, becoming the third North Carolina player to sweep both honors in the same season. Tresa Brown was the first to pull off the double in 1984, with Tracy Reid following suit in 1998.
o Latta was a repeat winner as the ACC Tournament MVP this season, joining current Tar Heel assistant coach Charlotte Smith-Taylor as the only two-time winners of the award (Smith did so in 1994 and 1995).
o North Carolina head coach Sylvia Hatchell is one of only five Division I coaches with 700 wins (current record: 717-268 through 31 seasons). The other 700-win coaches are Tennessee's Pat Summitt, Texas' Jody Conradt, Rutgers' C. Vivian Stringer and former LSU coach Sue Gunter.
o Hatchell was the only coach at this year's Women's Final Four to have won an NCAA championship, piloting North Carolina to the title in 1994. However, it's just one of three national crowns for Hatchell, who also won a pair of championships at Frances Marion College (S.C.) in 1982 (AIAW) and 1986 (NAIA).
MISCELLANOUS NOTES
o The top-ranked team in the final Associated Press poll of the season (taken before the NCAA Tournament) has gone on to win the NCAA championship 10 times. The last AP No. 1 team to take the crown was Connecticut in 2003, and with UNC's loss tonight, the past three top-ranked squads (Duke in 2004; Stanford in 2005; UNC in 2006) have come up short.
