University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Coastal Carolina
UNC Tops Coastal Carolina In Women's Hoops
February 14, 2001 | Women's Basketball
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Feb. 14, 2001
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.-The North Carolina women's basketball team stepped outside the Atlantic Coast Conference Wednesday evening and improved to 14-10 on the season with a 72-54 win over visiting Coastal Carolina at Carmichael Auditorium. CCU fell to 11-12 on the season, but within the lopsided Valentine's Day game each team found a half it could love. Or at least like.
Carolina preferred the first half. The Tar Heels led 32-9 with 7:40 remaining before halftime and were up 42-18 at the break after shooting 46.9 percent (15-32) from the field. Freshman center Candace Sutton had played only 10 minutes but already had nine points on 4-for-7 shooting.
"I was pleased with the way we started the game and played most of the first half," UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell said. "We had good intensity on defense and did a good job of getting the ball inside to Candace."
Then the second half began.
"The second half may have been our worst half of the season," Hatchell said. "Coastal Carolina certainly had something to do with that. They really played hard."
The Chanticleers hit their first five shots and outscored the Tar Heels 12-6 in the first three minutes of the half. The margin was never less than 18 points in UNC's favor, but CCU outscored UNC 36-30 in the second half, when both teams shot 44.4 percent from the field.
"The first half, I felt like we were intimidated," Coastal Carolina coach Alan LeForce said. "We just played unsure of ourselves. The second half I thought we played better. We played with more confidence and poise and had more aggression going to the boards."
North Carolina won the rebounding battle 46-33, but the margin was just five (20-15) in the second half. After having averaged 11.3 turnover per game in the previous three outings, the Tar Heels committed 24 on Thursday, compared with 18 by Coastal Carolina.
Senior forward Alison Bach led all scorers with 23 points for the Chanticleers. Also in double figures for the visitors was senior guard Brooke Weisbrod, who had 16 points.
Senior forward LaQuanda Barksdale led UNC with 18 points, hitting double figures for the 22nd time in this season's 24 games. She also was the leading rebounder in the game with eight. Sutton was the only other Tar Heel in double digits (11 points) as 10 different players scored for UNC.
Sophomore Coretta Brown handed out nine assists and is now tied for seventh place on UNC's single-season assists chart with 162 for the year.
The Tar Heels (7-6 ACC) return to action on Sunday, hosting Florida State for their final home game of the season. The game has been dubbed Senior Day, and UNC's four senior players will be honored prior to the 1 p.m. tipoff.
Coastal Carolina hosts UNC-Asheville on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
