March 31, 2003

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - North Carolina senior guard Coretta Brown will compete at both the men's and women's basketball Final Fours this week, showing off her shooting skills in New Orleans and playing in a senior all-star game in Atlanta.

On Thursday night in New Orleans, site of the men's Final Four, Brown will compete in the women's three-point portion of ESPN's 15th Annual College Slam Dunk and Three-Point Championships. The show will air on April 3 at 10:30 p.m. (ESPN2) and on April 5 at 3 p.m. (ESPN).

Brown, the Tar Heels' all-time leader in three-pointers (251) and career three-point percentage (.380), is the fourth UNC player to participate in the three-point contest in the last five years, following Jessica Gaspar (1999), LaQuanda Barksdale (2001) and Nikki Teasley (2002).

On Friday, Brown will travel to Atlanta, site of the women's Final Four, for the WBCA (Women's Basketball Coaches Association) All-Star Challenge. Brown is one of 20 seniors invited to participate in the all-star game, which tips off at Friday at 8 p.m. at Georgia Tech's Alexander Memorial Coliseum, the site of one of Brown's best games of the season. In a 72-67 win at Georgia Tech on Jan. 2, Brown played all 40 minutes and led UNC with a 23-point performance that included 4-for-6 shooting from three-point range.

"I'm really excited to go to New Orleans and then back to my home state," said Brown, who is from Statesboro, Ga. "I think they'll both be fun events. Of course, I'm disappointed that our team isn't playing in the Final Four, but I'm looking forward to the weekend."

Brown, who earned All-Atlantic Coast Conference and All-ACC Tournament honors in her junior and senior seasons, averaged a team-high 14.5 points for the Tar Heels in 2002-03. In addition to finishing atop the school's career lists for three-pointers and three-point percentage, she ranks third in UNC history in assists (517), eighth in free throw percentage (.729) and 12th in scoring (1687 points). She holds school records for three-pointers in a season (99, also an ACC record, in 2001-02) and for assists in a game (16 against North Carolina A&T on Nov. 21, 2000).

Brown is one of four players - the others are Courtney Chambers, Elizabeth Coughran and Jennifer Thomas - whose UNC careers ended with the Tar Heels' NCAA Tournament second-round loss at Colorado on March. 24. Carolina finished the season 28-6, reaching the 25-win mark for the seventh time in the last 10 years.