Tar Heels overcome start to win

Excuse North Carolina for being a little airborne Tuesday night against Charleston Southern.

The No. 5 Tar Heels, still elated after upsetting then-No. 4 Connecticut 71-65 on Sunday, missed five of their first eight shots before rolling over an outmatched Charleston Southern 88-33.

Camille Little scored 11 straight first-half points to help North Carolina to a 40-20 lead at the break.

“I’ve been in this business for a while, and I know how it works,” said Tar Heels coach Sylvia Hatchel, in her 30th season. “I know that was a good win, but it’s over. We needed a few minutes to land tonight, but we were fine after that.”

“I was happy with the win Sunday, but I was glad we had a game tonight,” Little said. “I wanted to let go of Sunday’s game and just play.”

Reserve LaToya Pringle scored 17 points for the Tar Heels (3-0), all in the second half. Ivory Latta and Erlana Larkins added 12 points apiece.

LaTangela Atkinson grabbed 11 rebounds for North Carolina, which dominated the boards 49-33.

Erica McCoy led Charleston Southern (0-2) with seven points.

The Tar Heels held the Buccaneers to 13-for-46 shooting (28.3 percent). Charleston Southern managed just 13 second-half points.

Charleston Southern went 11:42 into the second half without a basket, and trailed 69-21 before the Buccaneers’ LaKeisha Bryant made a layup.

North Carolina forced Charleston Southern into 28 turnovers.

“Of course we knew coming into this game that they’d be on cloud nine after the big win over Connecticut,” said Charleston Southern coach Stephanie Lawrence Yelton, who played on North Carolina’s 1994 NCAA championship team. “We also knew they’d be all over us on defense, and they were. That drought at the start of the second half didn’t help.”

(1) Tennesse 71, George Washington 41: Veterans and talented freshmen are proving to be a good mix for top-ranked Tennessee.

Junior Shanna Zolman scored 14 points and reserve freshman Alexis Hornbuckle added 11 to help the Lady Vols beat George Washington in their home opener.

Tennessee jumped out to a 10-0 lead, and George Washington didn’t score until 12:19 left in the first half. Tennessee’s leading scorer, Shyra Ely, was held to 7 points on 3-of-5 shooting. But the Lady Vols (3-0) made do without her usual 16 points. … (2) LSU 65, Temple 51: At Philadelphia, Freshman Sylvia Fowles had 17 points and 16 rebounds and Seimone Augustus scored 16 points, leading the Tigers past the Owls. … (9) Baylor 66, Mississippi St. 49: At Starkville, Miss., Steffanie Blackmon scored 23 points and Sophia Young added 13 points and 12 rebounds for the Bears, which led by as many as 21 points in the second half. … (19) DePaul 89, Wis-Milwaukee 67: At Chicago, Khara Smith had 23 points and 17 rebounds to lead DePaul. … (24) Villanova 72, Fairfield 57: At Bridgeport, Conn., Liad Suez scored 18 points and Jennifer Hilgenberg added 16 for Villanova.