University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Wake Forest
Tar Heels Down Wake Forest, 77-66
January 29, 2009 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 29, 2009
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP)--Minutes after North Carolina beat Wake Forest, there was a loud chorus of whooping in the tunnel of the Smith Center.
The outburst was an emotional release for the Tar Heels, who snapped their longest losing streak in seven years with a 77-66 victory Thursday night.
"We were definitely excited," said Italee Lucas, who scored a career-high 27 points. "Just letting it all out."
Rashanda McCants scored 17 points and had nine rebounds for North Carolina (18-3, 4-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), which hadn't lost three consecutive games since January 2002 before losing to No. 1 Connecticut, Georgia Tech and then-No. 12 Maryland in the span of a week.
Jessica Breland had a double double with 12 points and 10 rebounds and tied a career high with six blocks for the Tar Heels, who hadn't even lost back-to-back games since the end of the 2003-04 season before any current player joined the team.
Coach Sylvia Hatchell said her team played as hard as it could during the program's unusually brutal week, but that didn't mean the practices were easy. They included a 6 a.m. practice of running the morning after the Tar Heels lost to Georgia Tech.
"Even through this spell, we may have worked harder than we've worked all year in our practices," Hatchell said as Lucas groaned beside her. "And Jessica told me yesterday, she said, `I'm ready to win, coach. I don't like practices the way they are now."'
North Carolina carried their ruthless practices to the court Thursday, outhustling Wake Forest (13-5, 1-4) to many loose balls and outrebounded an opponent for just the second time in six games, 42-35.
The Tar Heels also had 11 steals and 10 blocks and converted 19 turnovers by Wake Forest into 20 points.
They needed most of the defensive plays, because the Demon Deacons executed well in the half court. Alex Tchangoue scored a career-high 25 points and Ray Secily added 15 points for Wake Forest, which twice cut a 15-point second-half deficit to three in the last 10 minutes.
"I thought Carolina did a better job of digging balls out than we did," Wake Forest coach Mike Petersen said. "They had more loose balls, just those kinds of plays. "(If) you're going to beat a top-10 team on the road, you're going to have to make those plays."
After taking a quick 11-2 lead, the Tar Heels allowed Wake Forest to stay within single digits by committing 26 turnovers, many of them careless passes. During two first-half stretches, they failed to take a shot on three consecutive possessions.
North Carolina led 38-33 at halftime and used a late 9-0 run to pull away and beat Wake Forest for the sixth consecutive time. Lucas scored the first three points of the spurt, which gave the Tar Heels a commanding 75-62 lead.
The sophomore guard made nine of 14 field goals, including four 3-pointers, and added four steals.
"(The basket) was looking pretty big," Lucas said.
Cetera DeGraffenreid added 11 points for the Tar Heels, who shot 48.2 percent. Corinne Groves had 12 for the Demon Deacons, who have lost five of six games after starting the season 12-0.
Earlier in the day, the Tar Heels announced senior guard Alex Miller will be out for the rest of the season. Miller suffered a torn patellar tendon in 2007, underwent a lengthy rehabilitation and played in 18 games this season.
Before the game, there was a moment of silence to honor longtime North Carolina State coach Kay Yow, who died Saturday following a lengthy battle with breast cancer. Both coaching staffs wore pink ribbons in tribute to Yow.
