University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Virginia Tech
No. 8 Tar Heels Power Past Hokies, 93-77
February 5, 2009 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 5, 2009
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) - Rashanda McCants and eighth-ranked North Carolina have little to worry about offensively as they prepare to face their fiercest rival next week.
As for defense, well, coach Sylvia Hatchell will have plenty for her team to work on in practice.
McCants scored 23 points to help the Tar Heels beat Virginia Tech 93-77 on Thursday night, sending them into Monday's matchup with fourth-ranked Duke on a three-game winning streak.
Jessica Breland added 20 points for the Tar Heels (20-3, 5-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), who earned a 20-win season for the eighth straight year.
North Carolina seems to have bounced back from a three-game losing streak that began with a 30-point loss against top-ranked Connecticut in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup last month. North Carolina shot 57 percent, led by 16 points at halftime and never let the margin slip below double digits from there.
That's not to say the Tar Heels were at their sharpest. They didn't protect the basketball particularly well and had several defensive lapses to frustrate Hatchell, allowing the struggling Hokies (11-12, 1-7) to hang around much of the way.
"We just weren't communicating and we just had the wrong people on players," Hatchell said. "But also in some of our rotations in our traps, we were getting really out of sync. We didn't have people rotating and covering like they were supposed to."
Ultimately, it didn't matter all that much against Virginia Tech, which never seriously threatened to pull the upset. North Carolina has won nine straight in the series and 12 of 14 meetings overall, with Virginia Tech's last win coming 25 years ago.
McCants led the offense by hitting her first nine shots, starting with a 6-for-6 effort in the first half.
"My teammates contributed by getting me easy shots and I just went with it," McCants said. "I felt I was hot. I was just trying to keep myself from thinking (about staying perfect) and stay in the zone."
McCants finally missed a contested jumper from the top of the key with about 5 minutes left, then missed a turnaround a few minutes later before leaving with her third 20-point game of the season.
"She's big enough to be a post and agile enough to be a guard," Hokies coach Beth Dunkenberger said. "She had pretty clean looks at it, but she certainly was on. Her jumper looked pretty smooth and we didn't have anybody who could stop her."
Breland finished with 11 rebounds, while Italee Lucas backed them by continuing her recent scoring surge. After scoring a career-high 27, followed by 19 in the past two games, Lucas went 7-for-16 from the field to go with eight assists and four steals.
 Rashanda McCants shoots over Virginia Tech's Laura Haskins during the first half. (AP Photo/Sara D. Davis)  |
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The Tar Heels' offense had no trouble knocking down shots, including an 8-for-17 performance from 3-point range, and took a 38-25 rebounding advantage. But North Carolina had 26 turnovers, its third straight game with at least 20, while the Hokies shot 49 percent against the Tar Heels' trapping defense.
But the Tar Heels kept the Hokies in chase mode, starting with an 8-0 run to open the game. Then, after leading 48-32 at the half, North Carolina scored the first seven points after the break to push the margin to 23.
Virginia Tech closed the gap to 67-54 on a 3-pointer from Utahya Drye with 11:23 to play. But Lucas found McCants cutting to the basket for a layup on the next possession, and Lucas later hit a 3 to cap a run of three straight scoring possessions and push the lead back up to 19 with 9:11 left.
Virginia Tech eventually cut the deficit back to 13 points, but got no closer.
"We just had little moments where we had breakdowns and we needed to get back," Drye said. "We know what we needed to do. We just had some letdowns throughout the game that we can't have against Carolina."
Lindsay Biggs scored 21 points to lead the Hokies, while Drye had 19.
