University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Coastal Carolina
No. 2 Tar Heels Rout Coastal Carolina, 95-44
December 13, 2008 | Women's Basketball
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) - Rashanda McCants was glad to be playing basketball, even if she had to wear a mask to protect her broken nose.
After a 10-day break from competition for exams, McCants and No. 2 North Carolina blew off the rust with a 95-44 victory over Coastal Carolina on Saturday.
"It's good for us to have some time off to rest and heal from injuries, but it's good to have some games, too," McCants said. "Practice helps us get better on things we need to improve, the small things. But we'd rather play a game."
Italee Lucas scored 17 points, McCants had 14 and reserve Jessica Breland added 12 points and 10 rebounds for North Carolina (10-0). Cetera DeGraffenreid had 13 as all but one of 13 Tar Heels on the roster scored.
Wearing a mask for the second game since breaking her nose in practice, McCants hit her first four shots from the field and was the top scorer at halftime with nine points. She finished 5-for-8 from the field and 4-for-6 at the line.
Overall, the Tar Heels hit 33 of 74 from the field, including 6 of 11 on 3-pointers, while holding Coastal Carolina to 16-of-66 shooting, a season-low 24.2 percent.
"They're a very good basketball team, no doubt about it," Coastal Carolina coach Alan LeForce said. "But they're not that much better than we are. We're not really that bad a basketball team."
Devin Rivers score eight points to lead Coastal Carolina (6-3). Amanda Stull, Coastal Carolina's leading scorer averaging 12.3 points a game coming into Saturday, was held scoreless in the first half and finished with two points.
LeForce said his Chanticleers were "completely intimidated," in every phase of the game.
"We had a complete breakdown offensively. We had a complete breakdown defensively," he said. "We didn't play two minutes of good basketball out there all night."
North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell found only one fault in her team's performance.
"You can tell what we'll be working on in practice," she said. "They got 21 offensive rebounds. We didn't do a good enough job boxing out."
North Carolina got its 26th straight win in Chapel Hill and its 73rd straight at home against nonconference opponents. The Chanticleers fell to 0-12 against North Carolina.
North Carolina started with a 9-0 run and led 49-18 at the half. The Chanticleers hit just 7 of 21 shots in the first half and then missed their first six in the second half.
