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No. 11 North Carolina beats Gardner-Webb 81-65

Dec 13, 2009 - 10:34 PM CHAPEL HILL, N.C.(AP) -- Cetera DeGraffenreid had 19 points and Italee Lucas added 18, leading No. 11 North Carolina past Gardner-Webb 81-65 on Sunday.

Dominique Hudson led Gardner-Webb (8-2), which had a school-record, eight-game Division I winning streak snapped, with 17 points in the schools first meeting.

Courtney Epps added 16 for the Bulldogs, while Margaret Roundtree had 12 and 6-foot-6 center Sandra Vaitkute 10.

North Carolina (8-1) shot 41.2 percent for the game to 32.8 for the Bulldogs, and finished with a 47-44 rebound advantage and committed 24 turnovers to the visitors 27.

The Tar Heels led 35-24 at halftime behind eight points from DeGraffenreid.

UNC shot just 34.3 percent in the first half, but Gardner-Webb was worse at 23.3.

Gardner-Webb led by two points three times early in the game in which there were six ties and five lead changes.

But with the visitors leading 12-11, the Tar Heels went on an 11-0 run, with Lucas getting both the go-ahead points on a layup at 11:29, and ending it on a 3-pointer at 10:03.

Gardner-Webb cut the margin to 53-47 with 10:36 left on a layup by Roundtree. But the Tar Heels responded with the next nine points, five from DeGraffenreid and four from Lucas.

UNC's biggest lead was 21 points on four occasions.