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NO. 4 NORTH CAROLINA 73, NO. 23 XAVIER 67: Rashanda McCants scored 20 of her 27 points in the second half to help No. 4 North Carolina to a 73-67 win against No. 23 Xavier Wednesday night in the women's Preseason NIT.

She brought the Tar Heels (4-0) back from a five-point deficit in the second half.

"Rashanda is a tremendous player and that was a tough matchup for us all night," Xavier coach Kevin McGuff said. "She made some big baskets there in the second half. We came right at her and she delivered."

Cetera DeGraffenreid added 15 points and Italee Lucas had 13 for the Tar Heels.

With the win, North Carolina advances to the finals, where they will play Oklahoma or Arizona State on Sunday.

McCant spoiled an extraordinary effort from the Xavier center Ta'Shia Phillips. She scored 23 points and grabbed 25 rebounds in the loss.

Jerri Taylor added 15 points for Xavier (2-1).

XAVIER -- A.Phillips 2-10 2-4 6, T.Phillips 10-13 3-4 23, Reed 2-12 4-6 10, Taylor 6-18 1-2 15, Jennings 1-2 2-2 5, Jernigan 0-5 0-0 0, Askew 2-3 0-0 4, Hester 0-3 0-0 0, Moss 0-1 0-0 0, Barringer 0-1 0-0 0, Moore 2-2 0-0 4. Totals 25-70 12-18 67.

NORTH CAROLINA -- McCants 9-18 7-8 27, M.Wood 0-3 2-2 2, Breland 0-9 1-4 1, Lucas 4-6 4-5 13, DeGraffenreid 2-8 11-14 15, Claytor 1-2 0-0 3, Shegog 3-9 3-3 9, McFarland 1-3 1-2 3, Miller 0-0 0-0 0, White 0-3 0-0 0, Broomfield 0-0 0-0 0, Bursey 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-61 29-38 73.

Halftime--Xavier 40-37. 3-point goals--Xavier 5-24 (Reed 2-7, Taylor 2-10, Jennings 1-1, A.Phillips 0-1, Barringer 0-1, Jernigan 0-2, Hester 0-2), North Carolina 4-12 (McCants 2-3, Claytor 1-2, Lucas 1-3, White 0-1, M.Wood 0-1, DeGraffenreid 0-2). Fouled out--McCants, A.Phillips. Rebounds--Xavier 59 (T.Phillips 25), North Carolina 34 (McCants 7). Assists--Xavier 15 (Jernigan 4), North Carolina 16 (DeGraffenreid 5). Total fouls--Xavier 23, North Carolina 18. Technical--Xavier Bench. A--1,617.

ARKANSAS 63, HPU 46: High Point (1-2) was led by freshman Shamia Brown, who posted her first career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Mackenzie Maier also tallied 11 points. Andrea Tucker scored nine points and pulled down nine rebounds.

NAVY 53, WSSU 49: Sophomore forward Vontisha Woods and sophomore guard Rene Rector led the Lady Rams with 13 points each in the loss.

CLEMSON 52, SOUTH CAROLINA 45: Lele Hardy had 17 points and nine rebounds to help Clemson spoil the home coaching debut of South Carolina's Dawn Staley.

Hardy also had seven steals to give the Lady Tigers (2-1) their first victory over South Carolina (0-2) in four seasons.

GEORGIA TECH 77, KENNESAW STATE 49: Sophomore Iasia Hemingway scored 13 of her 16 points in the second half to lead Georgia Tech.

TOP 25: Ashley Paris scored 21 points as No. 2 Oklahoma got acclimated to its highest ranking in school history with an 85-64 win against Middle Tennessee. ... Christina Wirth scored 16 points, including four 3-pointers, to help No. 13 Vanderbilt beat Eastern Kentucky 80-38. ... Ashley Barlow scored 19 points and No. 15 Notre Dame's defense forced 31 turnovers in a 96-61 victory over Evansville. .... Jantel Lavender had 22 points and 10 rebounds, Samantha Prahalis added 17 points and Brittany Johnson scored 15 to lead No. 17 Ohio State to a 78-71 victory over Syracuse.

men

GTCC 84, ROCKINGHAM CC 78: GTCC's Ryan Streater had 20 points and 15 rebounds to lead the 4-1 Titans.

ROCKINGHAM -- McRae 1 0-0 2, Clarke 5 2-3 17, Lockwood 1 1-4 3, Braboy 4 3-6 11, Williams 2 0-0 5, Hinton 1 01 2, Jackson 6 5-8 18, Johnson 3 2-2 8, White 4 1-3 9. Totals -- 27 17-27 78.

GTCC -- Polk 6 6-9 18, Taylor 11 1-4 23, Tatum 2 0-0 4, Streater 4 12-13 20, Kosh 2 0-0 4,Dawson 20-2 5, Perry 5 0-3 10. Totals -- 32 19-32 84.

3-point goals--RCC 7 (Clarke 5, Williams, Jackson) GTCC 1 (Dawson). Rebounds--GTCC 36 (Streater 15). Assists--GTCC 24 (Kosh 10).

EAST CAROLINA 86, CAMPBELL 65: James Legan scored 24 points to lead East Carolina.

Legan was 6-for-12 from 3-point range and Brock Young added 18 points for the Pirates (3-0).

Jonathan Rodriguez led the Fighting Camels (1-1) with 14 points.

CLEMSON 93, WOFFORD 40: Terrence Oglesby scored 15 points and Raymond Sykes added 14 for Clemson.

The Tigers (4-0) outscored Wofford 51-17 in the second half after leading 42-23.

VIRGINIA 77, SOUTH FLORIDA 75: Sylven Landesberg made a layup with 13 seconds left and sank a free throw six seconds later to seal Virginia's victory.

APPALACHIAN STATE 87, UNC-CHARLOTTE 84 (2OT): Kellen Brand had 23 points to lead four double-figure scorers for the Mountaineeers.

NO. 5 MICHIGAN STATE 70, IPIFW 59: Raymar Morgan scored eight of his 22 points during a 13-0 run for Michigan State.

NO. 23 VILLANOVA 77, NIAGARA 62: Scottie Reynolds scored 19 points, Corey Fisher had 15 and Reggie Redding 14 to lead Villanova past pesky Niagara.