Carolina Opens NCAA Tournament With WCC Champion Gonzaga

March 17, 2010 | Women's Basketball

By: UNC Athletic Communications

March 17, 2010

SEATTLE --- North Carolina (19-11) will make its ninth straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament when the 10th-seeded Tar Heels face seventh-seeded Gonzaga Saturday at approximately 7:30 p.m. PDT at the University of Washington's Bank of America Arena. Carolina, an at-large selection, enters the tournament after an 88-66 win over North Carolina Central on Sunday. Gonzaga, an automatic qualifier out of the West Coast Conference, has won 18 straight games and is coming off a 76-48 win over Pepperdine in the WCC Tournament final on March 8.

AT A GLANCE
Records: North Carolina 19-11, Gonzaga 27-4
Rankings: North Carolina is unranked. Gonzaga is ranked No. 18 in the AP poll and No. 14 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll.
TV: ESPN2. Allen Hopkins (play-by-play) and Krista Blunk (analyst) have the call.
Radio: Tar Heel Sports Network, a division of Learfield Communications. Brad Heller (play-by-play) and Jan Boxill (analyst) have the call.
On The Web: TarHeelBlue.com (UNC), GoZags.com (Gonzaga)

GONZAGA SERIES NOTES
• North Carolina is 1-0 all-time against Gonzaga.
• The only previous meeting between the two schools came during the 2006 Rainbow Wahine Classic in Honolulu. No. 2 Carolina defeated Gonzaga 101-63 behind a school-record 14 three-pointers.
• Saturday's game will be the first in program history in the state of Washington.

POTENTIAL SECOND ROUND MATCHUPS
• The winner of the UNC-Gonzaga matchup will meet the winner of Texas A&M-Portland State.
• North Carolina has never played either school in women's basketball.

CAROLINA IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
• UNC enters the tournament as a No. 10 seed for the first time in school history. The Tar Heels' previous lowest seed was No. 7 in 1983 and 1992.
• Carolina is 15-3 all-time in NCAA first round games, with its last loss coming to Middle Tennessee in 2004.
• The Tar Heels are 21-19 all-time in NCAA Tournament games played away from Chapel Hill.
• Carolina is 37-16 in NCAA Tournament play in 17 previous appearances under Sylvia Hatchell.
• UNC has an all-time NCAA record of 39-20 in 21 overall appearances.

LAST TIME OUT
March 14: UNC 88, NCCU 66
CHAPEL HILL --- Chay Shegog tied a career high with 17 points to lead five Tar Heels in double figures as North Carolina closed its home schedule with an 88-66 win over North Carolina Central Sunday afternoon at Carmichael Arena. Laura Broomfield added 12 points and 14 rebounds for UNC, which will now await its postseason fate after finishing the regular season with a 19-11 record that included wins over top-25 clubs Duke and St. John's and a total of 10 wins over the RPI top 100.

INJURY REPORT
• Freshman forward/center Waltiea Rolle missed Sunday's win over NCCU with a concussion. She is currently day-to-day.
• Junior guard Nicole Powell missed the NCCU game with an ankle injury. She is currently day-to-day.

LUCAS, DeGRAFFENREID EARN ALL-ACC HONORS
North Carolina junior guards Italee Lucas and Cetera DeGraffenreid were named to the three All-Atlantic Coast Conference teams, league commissioner John Swofford announced March 1. Lucas, who is sixth in the league in scoring with 15.4 points per game, was named to the second team, while DeGraffenreid, who led the league in assist-turnover ratio, was named to the third team.

Lucas, who has earned league honors for the first time, was averaging a team-high 15.4 points per game entering the ACC Tournament. The Las Vegas, Nev., product is sixth in the league in three-pointers made, eighth in free-throw percentage and 14th in three-point percentage. One of the more explosive scorers in the ACC, Lucas has tallied 20 or more points in eight games.

DeGraffenreid, a repeat member of the third team, leads the Tar Heels in assists and steals. A native of Cullowhee, N.C., DeGraffenreid was eighth in the league in scoring with 13.6 points per game entering the ACC Tournament and finished the regular season second in the ACC in assists, fourth in steals and first in assist-turnover ratio.

CAROLINA IN THE NATIONAL STATISTICS
The most recent NCAA statistics report was released on March 16, and the Tar Heels are highly ranked in a number of categories. UNC is among the nation's top 10 in three-point field goal defense. Here are the categories that feature Carolina in the top 25 (all stats per game):
    • Three-point Field Goal Defense - 3rd (25.2)
    • Blocks - 11th (5.7)
    • Scoring - 14th (76.5)
    • Steals - 23rd (10.9)

DeGRAFFENREID, LUCAS JOIN 1,000-POINT CLUB
With seven points in the win over Kennesaw State on Dec. 29, junior Cetera DeGraffenreid became the 31st player in school history to reach 1,000 career points. She currently stands 23rd overall with 1,260 points. Junior Italee Lucas reached the milestone with six points against Duke on Feb. 8. Lucas currently stands 30th overall with 1,089 points.

ROLLE ENDS REGULAR SESAON AS LEAGUE'S TOP SHOT-BLOCKER
Freshman forward/center Waltiea Rolle is already establishing herself as one of the top defensive forces in the ACC. With one block against Maryland on March 4, the Nassau, Bahamas, freshman currently has 69 blocked shots, good for first in the league and 21st in the NCAA. Rolle, who has blocked a shot in every game in which she has played this season, is just 15 blocks shy of Dawn Royster's UNC freshman record of 84, set during the 1983-84 season.

DeGRAFFENREID CLOSING IN ON SINGLE-SEASON FREE THROW MARK
Junior guard Cetera DeGraffenreid is approaching Charlotte Smith's single-season school record for made free throws. With 166 makes so far in 2009-10, DeGraffenreid is just eight away from Smith's record of 174 makes set during the 1994-95 season. DeGraffenreid is also fourth in school history and 12th in ACC history in career free throws made with 452.

LUCAS MOVES INTO THREE-POINT TOP 10 LIST
With three made three-pointers Dec. 13 against Gardner-Webb, junior guard Italee Lucas took over sole possession of 10th place in the all-time UNC career threes list. The Las Vegas, Nev., product has made 145 career threes in 100 games, and is also in the top 10 in career three-point percentage with a 35.2 (145-412) percent mark.