Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Basketball / Women's Basketball / N.C. Central NCCU continues road woes at High Point
Posted by Mike Potter on Tue, Dec 29, 2009 at 9:44 PM
N.C. Central's road struggles persist in men's basketball.
Nick Chasten (pictured) scored 20 points and C.J. Wilkerson added 16, but the Eagles came up short in a 70-58 loss at High Point.
The Eagles (2-11) fell to 0-10 on the road, leaving new coach LeVelle Moton still looking for his first win against a Division I opponent.
Eugene Harris had 14 points to lead four players in double figures for the Panthers (5-6). Cruz Daniels added 12 points while Nick Barbour and Jairus Simms added 10 each.
Michael Glasker chipped in 11 points for NCCU.
The teams will have a rematch on Jan. 11 at McLendon-McDougald Gym.
Basketball / ACC / UNC-Chapel Hill Tar Heels hold off Scarlet Knights 81-67
Posted by Rob Harrington on Tue, Dec 29, 2009 at 7:24 PM
North Carolina gave its fans and its head coach stomach ulcers on Monday night, yet the Heels ultimately held off Rutgers at the Smith Center. The Heels and Scarlet Knights seesawed early, before UNC opened a margin of 17 points just shy of the midway point in the second half.
But Rutgers wasn’t quite ready to give up, and the Knights’ aggressive play combined with a series of silly mistakes by the Tar Heels enabled them to close the gap to a two-possession game.
And for the first time this season, freshman guard Dexter Strickland saved the day. Though he made some mistakes himself, Strickland made a couple of key drives and hit one crucial three-pointer from the corner — which Roy Williams later called a bad shot — that put distance between the Heels and their opponent.
Basketball / Women's Basketball / ACC / UNC-Chapel Hill No place like home for Tar Heels, who win by 45 points at Carmichael
Posted by Mike Potter on Tue, Dec 29, 2009 at 6:00 PM
CARMICHAEL AUDITORIUM/CHAPEL HILL UNC is back "home" after spending its last season and a half sharing the Smith Center with the Tar Heel men's team.
Carmichael, which had been home of the UNC women's basketball program since its inception, has undergone an extensive expansion and renovation.
The place now seats 6,822, primarily in individual bucket seats, and officials say 2,946 of them are filled today.
In a side note, Dean Smith was the only Tar Heel men's coach ever to coach in the building. And yes, I covered a few of those games in the final seasons for the Danville Bee and the Durham Sun. It seated 10,000 on some flat aluminum bleachers with backs back in those days.
Fast forward to the end of 2009 where the Tar Heels will play Kennesaw State, and UNC will be a heavy favorite. KSU, a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference, is in its first season of full championship participation in NCAA Division I.
The result is pretty much as expected, as the Tar Heels roll 89-44.
ACC / UNC-Chapel Hill UNC returns to Carmichael today
Posted by Mike Potter on Tue, Dec 29, 2009 at 12:25 AM
The Tar Heels will finally be back home today.
The No. 7 UNC women's basketball team, which has been sharing the Smith Center with the Tar Heel men's squad for a season and a half, will play its first game in a renovated Carmichael Auditorium today at 2 against Kennesaw State.
The two teams met for the first time last season, with the Tar Heels winning 102-68 at the Smith Center.
UNC was 25-1 during its recent tenure at the Smith Center. The Tar Heels are 373-83 all-time in Carmichael.
Italee Lucas (pictured) is the Tar Heels' leading scorer.
Basketball / ACC / UNC-Chapel Hill / N.C. Central Eagles look for upset at High Point
Posted by Mike Potter on Tue, Dec 29, 2009 at 12:01 AM
N.C. Central returns to action with a nearby road game tonight, and the Eagles should have at least a fighting chance to win.
The opponent for the Eagles (2-9) is High Point (4-6), which has two of its four victories over non-Division I opposition at home.
Each is under the direction of a first-year head coach, the Eagles under LeVelle Moton and the Panthers under UNC alumnus Scott Cherry.
High Point has beaten the Eagles by single-digit margins each of the past two seasons.
C.J. Wilkerson (pictured) is NCCU's leading scorer.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Basketball / Women's Basketball / Duke / ACC / N.C. Central Duke fills up the stat sheet in 89-point romp over cross-town rival Eagles
Posted by Mike Potter on Mon, Dec 28, 2009 at 11:00 PM
CAMERON INDOOR STADIUM/DURHAM It doesn't have any fancier name this time than "The Battle of Durham," and indeed it is that.
No. 8 Duke is hosting N.C. Central in a women's basketball game, and the winner will be able to claim it's the best team in the city until they meet again. Duke is going to be a prohibitive favorite.
This happens to be the sport in which the Blue Devils and Eagles, who are in Year 3 of their five-year transition to championship competition in NCAA Division I, have squared off the most. It's the eighth meeting in the series and Duke leads by a mere 4 games to 3.
To be fair, all but the Blue Devils' 82-29 win two seasons ago were contested before any of the current players on either team was born.
The teams have played one common opponent this season and each came out victorious. Duke beat Houston Baptist 104-35 in its season opener on the Huskies' home court, while NCCU beat Houston Baptist 75-60 in the consolation game of South Florida's Tournament eight days ago.
The Eagles come in with a personnel handicap, as leading scorer and freshman guard Joanna Miller is out of the lineup - although in street clothes on the bench - for one game for an unspecified violation of team rules. And the result isn't surprising, as the Blue Devils control every aspect of the game in a 117-28 victory.
Basketball / Women's Basketball / N.C. State / ACC Wolfpack gets nice win over Seton Hall
Posted by Mike Potter on Mon, Dec 28, 2009 at 10:03 PM
N.C. State needed a win over an opponent from a big-time conference to keep its momentum going, and the Wolfpack got one.
Bonae Holston (pictured) had 20 points and Nikitta Gartrell added 13 in an impressive 68-57 win over Big East member Seton Hall at Reynolds Coliseum.
Both teams are now 8-5. The victory assured the Wolfpack a winning regular-season record against non-conference opposition this season.
Nicole Emery had 19 points to lead Seton Hall, while Kandice Green added 15 points and 10 rebounds and Ebonie Williams 10 points.
The Wolfpack's next game is on Wednesday at Southern California, with the next home game on Jan. 4 against Columbia.
Football / Duke / ACC Former Cornell coach Knowles newest member of Duke football staff
Posted by Mike Potter on Mon, Dec 28, 2009 at 4:38 PM
Jim Knowles has joined Duke football as defensive coordinator/safeties, leaving as head coach at Cornell to accept the job on David Cutcliffe's staff.
Knowles (pictured), who was the Big Red's mentor for the past six seasons accumulating a 26-34 record, was a member of Cutcliffe's staff at Mississippi in 2003.
Cutcliffe has also announced two promotions within his staff. Marion Hobby is the new assistant head coach/defensive coordinator after serving as defensive coordinator/defensive line coach, while Jim Collins will be assistant defensive coordinator/linebackers after being assistant Coach/linebackers).
Basketball / Women's Basketball / N.C. State / Duke / ACC / N.C. Central Women's roundup: Battle of Durham tonight; Wolfpack hosts Seton Hall
Posted by Mike Potter on Mon, Dec 28, 2009 at 12:05 AM
Durham bragging rights in women's basketball are on the line tonight at 7, when N.C. Central visits No. 8 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The 9-2 Blue Devils will come in as heavy favorites over the 1-9 Eagles, who are in their third season as transitional members of NCAA Division I in preparation for full Division I membership in 2011-12.
The contest is one of two local Division I women's games scheduled tonight, as N.C. State (7-5) will host Seton Hall (8-4)
Duke leads the series with NCCU 4-3, and has won four straight. The teams' only meeting since 1984 was two years ago, when the Blue Devils rolled to an 82-29 win.
Junior guard Jasmine Thomas (pictured left) leads Duke in scoring and assists, while freshman Joanna Miller (pictured right) leads the Eagles in both categories.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Hockey / Carolina Hurricanes Flyers' familiar faces best 'Canes, 4-3, in shootout
Posted by Kate Shefte on Sat, Dec 26, 2009 at 10:37 PM
RBC CENTER/RALEIGH – In a match-up intriguing for its promise of old teammates and ousted coaches facing one another for the first time, the Philadelphia Flyers bested Carolina, 4-3, in the shootout. Both struggling teams saw their weaknesses exploited as Carolina fell into a large deficit through two periods but mounted a surprising comeback in the third as the Flyers fell flat.
The game was spookily similar to the teams’ season opener, a 2-0 loss at the RBC Center Oct. 2, even though the teams’ benches and expectations were radically different. The Flyers amassed a comfortable lead early and played shut down defense to maintain it, leading to a boring but effective game.
But a late ‘Canes comeback spoiled any chance of a similar outcome. Jussi Jokinen tallies sandwiched a Brandon Sutter goal and brought the ‘Canes back from a three goal third period deficit to force overtime. There, Leighton stoned two guys who were his teammates less than two weeks ago and won the game for the visiting team.
“He hasn’t played that much hockey this year and his confidence can’t be that high,” Jokinen said of Leighton. “We shot some pucks and we were able to score some ugly goals, which we haven’t been able to do this year. But we got one point and we wanted two, so that’s still a tough loss.”
Jokinen almost started the scoring off early. He batted it past Michael Leighton and it trickled toward the goal line, but Philadelphia’s Matt Carle saved it just before it went in.
Later on that same play, Mike Richards scored for the Flyers. Ward stopped the initial shot on a three-on-two but had the puck taken away from him and sent into the net.
The Flyers appeared to go-ahead goal moments later, and even though the goal light went on and the Flyers seemed pretty sure they scored, the puck was determined to have been batted into the net by someone’s glove. The referee on hand waived it off immediately.
Philadelphia got it back later in the first when Scott Hartnell sent a puck out to a pinching Jeff Carter, who caught Ward way out of the net and less square to the shooter than he probably would have liked.
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