Feb. 1, 2009

Final Stats

CHAPEL HILL, NC - Italee Lucas' 19 points and No. 10 North Carolina defeat the Lady Eagles of North Carolina Central University 98-45 on Sunday afternoon in the Dean E. Smith Dome.

Rashanda McCants added 14 points for the Tar Heels (19-3), who scored the game's first 14 points and led 19-1 before the Eagles made their first field goal with 14:19 remaining in the first half.

Genevieve Hyman made a layup to cut UNC's lead to 19-3. The Lady Eagles struggled and missed their first 14 shots from the field and committed five turnovers

Lucas made her first five shots -- all 3-pointers -- including one that opened the scoring just 7 seconds into the game.

UNC connected on seven of its first nine 3-point attempts, including four by Lucas in a six-possession span that put the Tar Heels ahead 36-7 with 10:45 to play in the first half.

North Carolina Central was down 57-19 at the half, shot a mere 23 percent from the field. The Lady Eagles shot 8 percent from behind the arch connecting on one of 12.

"The great thing about our team today is that they continued to play 40 minutes of basketball," said head coach Joli Robinson. "They didn't give up, they didn't fall apart, they tried to do the things that we asked them to do and they fought."

NCCU made a mini run with 11:02 remaining in the game, but the Tar Heels was too much and sealed the victory.

Chasidy Williams scored 22 points to lead the Eagles, who shot just 23.9 percent from the field. They finished with seven assists and 21 turnovers.