March 20, 2003

GAME: No. 14 Austin Peay (27-3) vs. No. 3 North Carolina (27-5).

REGIONAL: Mideast, first round.

TIME: Saturday, 9:18 p.m. EST.

SITE: The Coors Events & Conference Center; Boulder, Colo.

North Carolina was not happy with the way it played in the ACC tournament championship game. The Tar Heels will look to make up for it in the NCAA tournament.

North Carolina opens tournament play with a first-round matchup against Ohio Valley Conference champion Austin Peay.

The Tar Heels, who finished the season ranked 12th in the AP Top 25 poll, were hammered by Duke 77-59 on March 10. Despite leading by six at halftime, they were unable to keep up with the Blue Devils in the second half.

However, North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell said the loss put her team in the right frame of mind for the tournament.

"Against Duke, we played well in the first half, and our regular-season game against them at home was a great game, so I think Duke has prepared us really well for the tournament," Hatchell said. "We're just going to try to go do as much damage as we can do."

To advance far into the tournament, the Tar Heels will likely rely on senior guard Coretta Brown. A first-team All-ACC selection, Brown leads the Tar Heels with 14.4 points per game.

Also crucial to the Tar Heels' potential tournament success is ACC rookie of the year La'Tangela Atkinson. The 6-foot-1 freshman averaged 9.9 points and a team-high 8.2 rebounds this season.

While Hatchell is preparing her players for a long postseason run, she expects a tough challenge from Austin Peay on Saturday.

"I would have thought they'd be a higher seed," Hatchell said. "They've done really, really well and dominated their conference. So, I'm sure they were disappointed, in that they expected to be a higher seed. They just have such a great team."

The Lady Govs enter the tournament as one of the nation's hottest teams, winning 22 straight games. They stormed through the OVC regular season with a 16-0 record and then won their three conference tournament games, capped by an 85-61 rout of Southeast Missouri in the championship game on March 7.

Senior guard Brooke Armistead leads Austin Peay with 18.4 points per game. Junior forward Gerlonda Hardin provides an intimidating inside presence, averaging 15.1 points and a team-high 8.1 rebounds.

North Carolina and Austin Peay have never met.

The winner of this game will play either Colorado or Brigham Young in the second round Monday.

PROBABLE STARTERS:
Austin Peay - F Cassandra Peek, F Hardin, G Armistead, G Ashley Haynes, G Paige Smith.
North Carolina - F Jennifer Thomas, F Nikita Bell, C Candace Sutton, G Brown, G Atkinson.

TEAM LEADERS:
Austin Peay - Armistead, 18.4 ppg; Hardin, 8.1 rpg; Smith, 3.9 apg.
North Carolina - Brown, 14.4 ppg; Atkinson, 8.2 rpg; Metcalf, 4.4 apg.

HOW THEY GOT HERE:
Austin Peay - Automatic bid, Ohio Valley Conference tournament champion.
North Carolina - At-large bid, Atlantic Coast Conference.

ALL-TIME TOURNAMENT RECORD:
Austin Peay - 0-3, 3 years.
North Carolina - 23-13, 14 years.