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Erlana Larkins had her seventh double-double on Saturday against Arizona State.
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UNC Meets Baylor Monday For Final Four Spot
Tar Heels take on the Lady Bears in an Elite Eight matchup.
March 27, 2005
Game Notes in PDF Format
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Tip-off
The North Carolina women's basketball team, seeded No. 1 in the Tempe region, continues play in the 2005 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship on Monday with a regional final game against second-seeded Baylor. Tipoff at Wells Fargo Arena is 5 p.m. MST (7 p.m. EST) and the game will be televised live by ESPN. The winner advances on to the Final Four in Indianapolis.
UNC is 30-3 on the season and playing as a top seed for the first time since 1997. The Tar Heels, ranked No. 4 in the A.P. poll and No. 2 in the coaches' poll, earned a spot in the field by winning the ACC Championship.
Baylor is also 30-3. The Lady Bears, ranked fifth in the A.P. poll and sixth in the coaches' poll, reached the field as champions of the Big 12.
On the air
Monday's game will be televised live by ESPN. Dave O'Brien will handle the play-by-play, Kara Lawson will provide color commentary and Heather Cox will report from the sidelines. The game will be UNC's 19th television appearance of the season.
The matchup with Baylor also will air on the Tar Heel Radio Network, which includes 12 stations. WCHL-AM 1360 in Chapel Hill is the flagship. Jones Angell is the Tar Heels' play-by-play announcer.
UNC at a glance
2004-05 record 30-3 (12-2 ACC)
Current rankings 4th A.P., 2nd ESPN/USA Today
Head coach Sylvia Hatchell
Career record 684-265 (30th season)
Record at UNC 412-185 (19th season)
Assistant head coach Andrew Calder
Assistant coaches Tracey Williams, Charlotte Smith-Taylor
Briefly ...
Monday's game will be the first women's basketball meeting between North Carolina and Baylor.
The Tar Heels are in the Elite Eight for the third time in school history. In 1994, UNC went on to win the NCAA title. In 1998, UNC lost to eventual-champion Tennessee 76-70 in the Mideast Region final.
The Tar Heels are now 9-13 in NCAA Tournament games played away from Chapel Hill. The regional semifinals win over Arizona State was UNC's first tournament win on an opponent's home court.
Ivory Latta's free throw with 1:55 remaining against Arizona State was the 1,000th point of her career. She's just the second UNC sophomore to reach that mark, but is the 24th UNC player overall and the third this season. Leah Metcalf reached the milestone a game earlier (against George Washington) and Nikita Bell got there on Jan. 17 against Miami.
UNC has reached the 30-wins mark for just the third time in school history. The Tar Heels hit that mark in 1994 (33-2) and 1995 (30-5).
Carolina's current 16-game winning streak is the second longest in school history. The school-record streak of 32 stretches from the 1993-94 season (last 14 games) to the 1994-95 campaign (first 18 games). Baylor's current winning streak stands at a school-record 17.
Ivory Latta was honored as WBCA National Player of the Month for March following an outstanding performance in the ACC Tournament. She averaged 25.7 points and shot .524 from the field in earning MVP honors. The WBCA honor was based on performance prior to the start of the NCAA Tournament.
Ivory Latta has been named to the Associated Press All-America third team. She's the first Tar Heel since Tracy Reid in 1998 to earn a spot on one of the three A.P. teams. Senior Nikita Bell was named honorable mention for 2005.
UNC finished its home season undefeated in Chapel Hill at 17-0, with the most home wins in school history. The Tar Heels were 24-0 in the Tar Heel State, winning three times in Greensboro (ACC Tournament), twice in Raleigh ( at NC State, vs. Connecticut at the Jimmy V Classic), and once each in Durham (at Duke) and Winston-Salem (at Wake Forest). The Carolina men also were undefeated in Chapel Hill this season, finishing their home schedule 15-0. UNC and Gonzaga are the only schools in the nation to have both the men's and the women's teams finish undefeated at home.
The Tar Heels are 7-2 against ranked teams this season, with wins over No. 4 Connecticut, No. 24 Villanova, No. 1 Duke, No. 21 NC State, No. 2 Duke, No. 6 Duke and No. 24 Arizona State, and losses to No. 21 Maryland and No. 24 FSU.
Noting the numbers
With four steals against Arizona State, Nikita Bell moved into the top 10 in ACC history. With 318 in her career, she needs seven to move past Robyn Mayo (NC State, 1982-85) into ninth. Bell ranks fourth in UNC history in steals, just behind Marion Jones, who had 334 in her three seasons.
UNC leads the nation in steals with 14.1 per game, well ahead of second-place Birmingham-Southern (13.0).
With 466 steals this season, UNC has set a new school record. The old mark was held by the 1994 NCAA Championship team, which had 454 steals in 35 games (12.97 per game).
The Tar Heels are on track to set a school single-season record for team free throw percentage. The team's percentage currently stands at .720 (571-793). The school record is .718 (560-780) in 1994.
Ivory Latta is on track to set a school record for single-season free throw percentage. She is hitting .869 (126-145) percent of her free throws, ahead of the UNC record of .863 set by Nikki Teasley in 2002.
Ivory Latta also could set the school record for single-season three-point percentage. She is currently shooting .406 (89-291) from long range and the record is .405 by Stephanie Lawrence in 1994.
With 89 three-pointers this season, Ivory Latta ranks second on the UNC single-season list and fourth on the ACC's list. She needs two to take over third place from NC State's Jennifer Howard (90 in 1996).
With 490 points and an average of 14.8 per game, Erlana Larkins is within reach of several UNC freshman records. The school records for freshmen are 494 points (Marion Jones, 1994) and 14.9 points per game (Tonya Sampson, 1991).
Tar Heel trends
In its three NCAA Tournament games thus far, UNC is shooting .506 from the field and .432 from three-point range but just .632 from the foul line. The season numbers are .449 field goal percentage, .321 three-point percentage and .720 free throw percentage.
Three of the Tar Heel starters are shooting better than .560 percent from the field in NCAA Tournament play. Erlana Larkins is hitting .636 percent of her shots, Nikita Bell .621 and Ivory Latta .568. The other starters are Camille Little (.481) and La'Tangela Atkinson (.346).
In NCAA Tournament play, the Tar Heels are averaging more steals (15.0) and blocks (6.3) than their season numbers (14.3 steals, 4.5 blocks). They're also averaging more turnovers (21.0 in NCAA play, 18.4 for the season).
Before going 0-for-2 from three-point range against Arizona State, sophomore Camille Little had hit seven of her last 10 attempts. She was 4-for-5 from long range against Duke in the ACC title and and 3-for-5 against Coppin State in the first round. She did not have an attempt against George Washington in the second round. For the season, she has the team's best percentage, .439 (25-57).
Senior Nikita Bell has scored in double figures in 10 of the last 11 games, with the exception a six-point outing in the ACC title game. She is averaging 14.2 points per game over that span
The Tar Heels have not lost this season when scoring 80 or more points (14-0), allowing 69 points or less (25-0), shooting 50 percent or better (7-0) or holding opponents to 40 percent shooting or lower (23-0).
The UNC-Baylor series
North Carolina and Baylor have never met in women's basketball.
The teams' only common opponent this season has been Penn State. UNC lost 77-71 at Penn State on Dec. 5. Six days later, Baylor beat the Lady Lions 91-70 in Waco.
Scouting the Lady Bears
Baylor is 30-3 on the season following a 64-57 win over Minnesota in Saturday's regional semifinal game. Sophia Young led the way with 26 points and Steffanie Blackmon joined her in double figures with 10. Second-seeded Baylor had just nine turnovers to 19 assists and shot .450 while outrebounding Minnesota 36-33.
On the season, Young, the Big 12 Tournament MVP, leads the way with 18.0 points and 9.2 rebounds per game. Blackmon is the only other player scoring in double figures with 15.5 points per game and ranks second in rebounding with 8.2 per game. Baylor averages 74.2 points per game while holding opponents to 60.7.
The Lady Bears are coached by Kim Mulkey-Robertson, who is in her fifth season with the program.
And then there were three
At the start of this season, there wasn't a player on the UNC roster with 1,000 career points. Now, there are three. Seniors Nikita Bell and Leah Metcalf and sophomore Ivory Latta all have hit that milestone since the start of 2005.
Bell came into the Miami game on Jan. 17 with 997 points and scored four against the Hurricanes. She reached the landmark with her second basket of the game, a putback with 6:13 remaining in the second half, and become the 22nd player in UNC history to score 1,000 points.
Metcalf came into the NCAA Tournament second-round game against George Washington needing just four points to reach 1,000. She got there on a three-pointer with 4:45 to play and finished the game with eight points and a career total of 1,004.
Latta came into the region semifinal against Arizona State 16 points shy of 1,000. After missing the first of two free throws with 1:51 to play in the win, she hit the second for her 16th point of the game. She finished the game with 20 points and a career total of 1,004. She is just the second sophomore (Marion Jones became the other during the 1994-95 season) to reach that mark.
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