North Carolina 75, UC Riverside 51

3/19/2006 12:36 AM

By TERESA M. WALKER
AP Sports Writer

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Ivory Latta has a personal guarantee. The North Carolina Tar Heels will be back up to full speed in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

``We'll be clicking on Monday. How about that? We will be clicking,'' the junior point guard promised with a big grin.

The top-seeded and top-ranked Tar Heels only turned on their fun-and-run game in spurts Saturday night, and that was more than enough for a 75-51 victory over No. 16 seed UC Riverside in the first round of the Cleveland Regional.

Rashanda McCants scored 15 points, Latta added 14, Erlana Larkins 13 and LaToya Pringle 11 as the Tar Heels scored the first bucket and never looked back in what coach Sylvia Hatchell called a sloppy game.

``We're glad to get this one behind us,'' Hatchell said. ``We're looking forward to playing on Monday night.''

Their eighth straight victory gave them their second straight 30-win season and fourth in school history. North Carolina (30-1) will play No. 8 seed Vanderbilt in the second round Monday night.

This was a mismatch from the moment the selection committee paired the teams together. This is North Carolina's 18th trip to the NCAA tournament. The Tar Heels won the national title in 1994 and lost last season in a regional final to eventual champion Baylor.

This was the first berth for UC Riverside (16-15), which won the Big West Conference tournament on a late 3-pointer in its fifth year as a Division I team.

Forget not having played an Atlantic Coast Conference team before, the Highlanders had played only six teams outside California this season. Starting three freshmen and two sophomores, they also are the youngest team in the tournament.

``This was a great experience seeing where the bar is and how hard we have to work to get close to that bar,'' UC Riverside coach John Margaritis said.

Latta said she didn't see any fear in the Highlanders' eyes, something she has seen in other opponents. Hatchell thinks the Highlanders have a bright future ahead.

``They gave us a different look than what we usually see, but I thought they did an excellent job,'' Hatchell said.

Amber Cox was the lone Highlander in double figures with 10 points.

The Tar Heels opened slowly and came up short of matching their average of 83.3 points per game as they worked their way back from a 13-day layoff since winning a second straight ACC tournament championship.

``I thought we probably played for about 6-8 minutes in the way we should've played and the way we have been playing through the ACC tournament. Again, the players know that too our timing is a little bit off. Some of our passes, just a few little breakdowns, things like that,'' Hatchell said.

Larkins picked up her second foul within the first 2 minutes, the Tar Heels missed four straight shots at one point, and a team on pace for a school record from beyond the arc hit only 2-of-9 in the first half. The runnin' Tar Heels had only 14 points off the fast break for the whole game.

La'Tangela Atkinson helped them get going when she grabbed a ball tipped to her near midcourt and scored easily on a layup. She then put North Carolina up 9-1 with a three-point play. UC Riverside missed its first five shots before Vanessa Campillo hit a jumper with 16:10 left in the first half.

From there on, it was a matter of the Tar Heels efficiently padding their lead. McCants hit North Carolina's first 3 of the game to push the lead to double digits for the first time at 20-10 with 11:18 to go, and Latta hit the second 3 before the buzzer for a 41-21 halftime lead.

The Highlanders did score nine straight points in the second half to trim North Carolina's lead, and they left having enjoyed the experience, especially with a rented band of bagpipers and drummers that ranged from a teenager to gray-bearded members way too old to be college students.

``When we heard our fans cheering for us and the bagpipes playing, it was just very exciting,'' UC Riverside freshman Seyram Gbewonyo.

``This is a great way to start off something new.''