March 14, 2010
Final Stats
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (www.NCCUEaglePride.com) - North Carolina Central University held three first-half leads against ACC foe North Carolina, but the post play of the Tar Heels proved too much for the Lady Eagles during an 88-66 season-ending loss inside Carmichael Arena in Chapel Hill, N.C. on Sunday afternoon.
Freshman guard Joanna Miller topped four Lady Eagles to score double figures with a game-high 21 points, while also collecting a game-high six steals and matching a team-best seven rebounds.
NCCU junior guard Shanise Blanks came off the bench for 14 points with four three-point field goals, while sophomore guard Blaire Houston added 13 points and senior forward Latoya Bennett contributed 11 points and seven boards.
Five Tar Heels netted double figures in a balanced offensive effort, led by sophomore center Chay Shegog with 17 points. At 6-5, Shegog stood four inches higher than the only Lady Eagle taller than 6-feet.
Sophomore forward Laura Broomfield stormed off the Carolina bench for her fifth double-double of the season with 12 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
The host Tar Heels wasted little time jumping out on the visiting Lady Eagles, scoring on a layup by Italee Lucas just four seconds into the contest. That was followed by another easy basket by Tierra Ruffin-Pratt 19 seconds later. A little more than two minutes into the contest, Carolina enjoyed an 8-2 cushion and things were looking rosy for the home team.
However, that's when the Lady Eagles started to settle down and Miller started to warm up. The rookie sensation scored 12 of her team's first 15 points to put NCCU on top of the Tar Heels 15-14 at the 12:35 mark.
After a jumper by Shegog gave UNC a 16-15 advantage at 12:18, Blanks drained a triple to put the visitors ahead 18-16 at 12:04.
Shegog answered again for the Tar Heels to tie the game at 18-18, but following the under-12 broadcast media timeout Houston connected to make the score 20-18 in favor of NCCU at 11:18.
Carolina scored the next five points as part of a 29-13 run to end the half, as the Tar Heels took a 47-33 cushion into the locker room at intermission.
Miller amassed 17 points in the opening 20 minutes for NCCU.
The Lady Eagles scored the first four points of the second half to narrow the deficit to 10 points, but that was as close as they would get the rest of the way. Carolina steadily built its lead, using a 10-3 spurt to go up 57-40, followed by a 15-1 stretch to push the advantage to 72-45 at 8:34.
UNC's largest lead was 29 points (80-51, 6:08) before closing out the regular season with a 22-point victory.
With five Tar Heels measuring 6-feet or better, Carolina out-scored the Lady Eagles 52-22 in the paint, including 19 points off of 20 offensive rebounds.
North Carolina improves its record to 19-11 and awaits its fate with the announcement of the NCAA Championships bracket on Monday.
NCCU wraps up its third season of Division I competition with an 11-18 mark, the most victories by the Lady Eagles since the start of the reclassification process.
NOTE: Miller ends her freshman campaign with 496 points, a single-season total only three other Lady Eagles have reached in the past 20 years (Cassie King, Tiona Beatty, Amba Kongolo) and the most points scored by a freshman in Lady Eagle history.
