Tar Heels Succumb To Sooners, 66-63, In Rainbow Wahine Classic
Nov. 30, 2002
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HONOLULU (AP) - Dionnah Jackson scored 21 points, including a 3-pointer that put No. 22 Oklahoma ahead to stay in a 66-63 victory Saturday night over 11th-ranked North Carolina in the semifinals of the Rainbow Wahine Classic. The victory put the Sooners (5-1) in the championship game Sunday against fifth-ranked Connecticut, a 60-53 winner earlier Saturday over Hawaii. The finale will be a rematch of last season's NCAA title game won by UConn.
UNC will face tournament-host Hawaii at 5:30 p.m. (10:30 ET) for third place. The teams last met in the third-place game of the 1998 Rainbow Wahine Classic, when Carolina won 75-72. Down by 12 points in the second half, the Tar Heels (3-1), who got 16 points from Coretta Brown, rallied to take a 46-45 lead on La'Tangela Atkinson's basket off a missed free throw with 11:55 remaining. On the next play, Jackson hit a 3-pointer to put the Sooners in front for good. They extended the lead to 11 points, but the Tar Heels got it back to two on Brown's free throws with 15 seconds left. Then Jackson made one of two free throws before Brown missed a 3-pointer in the game's closing seconds. Maria Villarroel added 15 points for Oklahoma, which got 13 from Chelsi Welch and 10 from Theresa Schuknecht. Candace Sutton added 13 points for North Carolina. Atkinson and Jennifer Thomas finished with nine points and nine rebounds each.
"Oklahoma is a tough team and we didn't shoot the ball well," UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell said. "We learned a lot from this game. Now we'll regroup and get ready to play Hawaii."
UNC hit just 36.4 percent of its shots, but attempted 66 to Oklahoma's 45. The Tar Heels outrebounded the Sooners 42-35.
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