In a battle of two of the top three teams in the country, No. 2 North Carolina defeated No. 3 Maryland, 84-71, in front of a national television audience and a sellout crowd of 17,950 fans at Comcast Center.
North Carolina senior guard Ivory Latta scored 32 points and junior forward Erlana Larkins had 20 points and 12 rebounds in the win. Senior forward Camille Little finished with 17 points and eight rebounds for North Carolina, which avenged its loss in last year?s national semifinals against Maryland.
Latta did much of her damage in the second half for North Carolina (23-0, 7-0 Atalntic Coast Conference) as she connected on four 3-pointers as part of a 20-8 run in the first five minutes of the second half.
Maryland senior guard Shay Doron scored 19 points, including 13 in the second half, as she was a catalyst in helping get the Terps back in the game after trailing by as many as 20 points in the second half.
Senior forward Crystal Langhorne had 14 points and 10 rebounds, and sophomore forward Marissa Coleman had 13 points and seven rebounds for Maryland (21-2, 5-2).
Trailing 55-35 with 15 minutes remaining, Maryland attempted to get back into the game with a number of scoring spurts of its own. First, Maryland went on a 12-2 run and cut the deficit to 57-47 after a basket from Langhorne with 11:03 remaining. Doron then outscored the Tar Heels 6-2 over a two-minute span as the Terps pulled within 61-53 with 8:25 left in regulation.
Finally, Doron capped a 13-6 run with a basket that pulled Maryland within 67-66 with 3:15 remaining. However, the Tar Heels outscored the Terps 17-5 the rest of the way.
Maryland, which entered the game second in the ACC behind North Carolina in scoring offense, struggled with its shooting in the first half. Maryland committed 21 turnovers in the game, including 14 in the first half. Also, the Terps shot just 38.6 percent from the field including missing 10 of 34 first-half shots.
North Carolina led by as many as 14 points, 29-15, in the first half following a 3-pointer from Latta with 6:39 left before halftime.
Maryland responded with a 12-4 spurt and pulled within 33-27 with 1:03 left in the first half following a 3-pointer by Toliver. However, the momentum came to a screeching halt after Maryland coach Brenda Frese got called for a technical foul for arguing with officials. Latta made both technical free throws as the Tar Heels led 35-27 at halftime.
Maryland returns to action at 7 p.m. Thursday when it plays at Georgia Tech. The Terps then return home Sunday when Boston College comes to Comcast Center. Tip-off for that game is 4 p.m.
