UNC Ekes Past Athletes in Action

"Box out," Brown said with a laugh. "Box out and get the rebound."

When the shot clanked off the back iron, Brown collected the loose ball and was fouled.

With a three-point lead, she went to the free throw line and coolly sank two free throws to give the Tar Heels a five-point lead, and they held on to win 77-74 against the Athletes.

Although Brown said all she was thinking was "box out," UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell said that was one of many things the Tar Heels did poorly Wednesday.

"I didn't think we played like a team," Hatchell said. "It's early; we made a lot of mistakes. Even though we outrebounded them (58-40), we just didn't box out good."

The Tar Heels did, however, get solid performances from guards Nikita Bell (18 points, seven rebounds) and Jessica Sell (eight points, five assists and no turnovers).

"I thought Jessica Sell played well. Actually, I thought she was the only player that really played well," Hatchell said.

Led by two Bell buckets, UNC jumped out to an 11-2 lead three minutes into the first half. The two teams traded points for the next five minutes.

But when UNC freshman guard La'Tangela Atkinson blocked an Athlete shot, collected the loose ball, wrapped a dribble behind her back at half court, then spun through two defenders to lay the ball in to give the Tar Heels a 23-15 lead, it appeared they were gathering momentum.

But the opposite happened: UNC hit a wall.

The Tar Heels went nearly four minutes without scoring another point, which allowed the Athletes to claw their way back to tie the score at 23-23 with nine minutes left in the first half.

UNC led 41-34 at the break and held a sizeable lead for most of the second half.

But after Candace Sutton's putback with 4:58 to play gave the Tar Heels a 73-62 lead, UNC again lost its scoring touch.

And again, the Athletes were opportunistic, connecting on 8-of-8 free throws, capping the scoring run with an A.J. Whithead fast-break lay-up to put her team within three.

"We had a big lead, and they were coming back," Bell said. "They were good shooters, and all we had to do was pick it up on our defense."

As Sutton fought through a double screen and got a hand in Voight's face, the Tar Heels did what Bell was looking for.

Hatchell gave credit to the Athletes for disrupting much of what the Tar Heels would've like to do.

"They were very organized," said Hatchell of her opponent. "They're a good team. They scout, they knew us. So, they did a good job."

Despite the win, when asked if satisfied, Hatchell said: "Well, we're supposed to have tomorrow off, but we're not. We're going to practice. So, that should answer (that) question."

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