Tar Heels Show No Love for CCU

The North Carolina women's basketball team's date with Coastal Carolina ended with the heartbroken Chanticleers going home with a 72-54 loss and without a goodnight kiss.

The game looked like CCU wouldn't have much of a chance at the start. The Chanticleers turned the ball over four times in their first five possessions of the contest in the face of UNC's swarming defense. CCU coughed up the ball 12 times in the first half.

"In the first we half, we got out after it," UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell said. "We trapped the ball good. We contested shots."

The Tar Heels (14-10) held the Chanticleers (11-12), who didn't reach double figures until less than seven minutes remained in the first half, to 22.6 percent shooting from the field in the half.

While CCU was giving UNC a bouquet of bricks and air balls, North Carolina hit 46.9 percent of its attempts, including its first four of the night, en route to a 42-18 break at intermission.

"The first half I was not pleased," CCU coach Alan LeForce said. "I felt like we were a little intimidated. We did things that we don't normally do. We threw the ball away. We took quick shots. We just played unsure of ourselves."

In the second half, it was the Tar Heels who didn't play the way they normally do.

UNC committed 15 turnovers in the second stanza while CCU regained its composure and had just six blemishes.

"Then the second half, that might be our worst half of the season," Hatchell said.

"We have probably been one of the best teams in the country against ranked competition with our turnovers. Tonight we looked like we were in Woollen Gym playing a pickup game in the second half."

But the Tar Heels still got the job done when they weren't turning the ball over.

LaQuanda Barksdale led the way with 18 points and eight rebounds. The forward still placed some of the blame for the team's second-half performance on herself.

"I put some of that on myself," Barksdale said. "I wasn't physically or mentally ready for the game. I've been in the bed with the flu for the past two days."

Six-foot-6 Candace Sutton did her damage on the interior against the smaller Chanticleer lineup. The freshman finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and two blocks.

Sophomore point guard Coretta Brown had nine assists to go along with her nine points.

Hatchell gave her Blue team lots of minutes in the first half as her Valentine's Day gift to LeForce. She alternated it with her starting unit about every five minutes, and the substitutes bested CCU, which dressed only eight players, 15-11 in the first half. All 13 Tar Heel saw action in the half, eight playing 10 minutes.

LeForce said, "They're a better basketball team than we are."

The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu.