bgorman@heraldsun.com; 419-6668
CHAPEL HILL — Whenever North Carolina’s Cetera DeGraffenreid brought the ball up the court in the first half of Wednesday’s game against Georgia Tech, the point guard knew where she would be throwing the ball — to teammate Italee Lucas.
The hot-shooting junior scored 23 of her 28 points in the first half to lead the No. 7 Tar Heels past the No. 20 Yellow Jackets 89-78 at Carmichael Auditorium for UNC’s eighth straight win and a victory in its ACC opener.
“I guess I was just feeling it,” Lucas said.
Lucas was 7 of 8 from the floor in the first half — including 3 of 4 from beyond the arc — and was one point off her career-high of 29.
Her biggest contribution of the first-half, however, was kickstarting a 24-5 UNC run to end the period and put the game in control of the Tar Heels
(13-1, 1-0). Lucas scored nine consecutive points in a 1:22 to push UNC’s lead to 14 and help the Tar Heels hold a 50-26 advantage at the break.
After Georgia Tech (13-3, 0-1) cut the lead to 26-21 with 7:45 remaining in the half, Lucas connected on a 3-pointer and then made a free throw to cap a four-point play. Georgia Tech turned the ball over, and Lucas countered with her second straight 3-pointer, then hit a jumper on the Tar Heels’ next possession.
“Italee Lucas was unbelievable in the first half — one of the best first halves of play I think I’ve ever seen a guard put on a shooting display,” Georgia Tech coach MaChelle Joseph said. “I thought she was amazing. I knew she could shoot the basketball, but I didn’t realize she could shoot it as well as she did.”
Lucas remained modest about her night — she’s had three other 20-point games this season — and credited UNC’s style of play, which focuses on scoring in transition. DeGraffenreid, She’la White and Chay Shegog all finished in double figures for the Tar Heels, who scored 24 points off Georgia Tech’s 17 first-half turnovers.
“A lot of our offense, we know where we are,” said Lucas, who finished with eight assists. “We’re able to go through our plays without even calling anything, so I think that’s a big help, just knowing where each other are.”
But the Yellow Jackets weren’t done after the first half. Georgia Tech began to hit some shots in the second half — 46.8 percent shooting compared to 36.4 percent in the first half — and cut a 26-point deficit to 13 with 7:25 to play.
But UNC stopped the rally with a couple of fastbreak layups and won the game more handily than the score indicated.
Even though Hatchell wasn’t pleased with her team’s defense in the second half or its rebounding — the Yellow Jackets outscored the Tar Heels 52-39 after intermission and had 48 boards to UNC’s 34 — she was glad to get the confidence-building win against a physically tough team before Saturday’s matchup at top-ranked Connecticut.
“It was a great game for us to have before we go to play UConn on Saturday,” Hatchell said.
