Candace Wood
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HoopGurlz Publisher
Posted Jul 16, 2006
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Candace Wood is to follow in the footsteps of her father, Al, and sister, Martina, and attend North Carolina. On the heels of a stellar performance at the adidas TOC, the 2008 wing prospect verballed to the Tar Heels on Sunday.
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PHOTOS BY GLENN NELSON
Candace Wood, a 5-foot-11 swing player out of Charlotte, N.C., Sunday made a verbal commitment to play at North Carolina, according to her father, Al Wood, a former Tar Heel great and NBA player who has had his jersey number retired by UNC.
A top 2008 prospect out of Victory Christian Center School, Wood eventually will join her sister, Martina, a 6-2 post, who will be a sophomore at North Carolina.
Candace Wood |
UNC coach Sylva Hatchell previously received elite-level 2007 commitments from Italee Lucas of Las Vegas and Cetera DeGraffenreid of Sylvia, N.C. Lucas is a five-star prospect, according to HoopGurlz.com, while DeGraffenreid is a four-star prospect.
Candace Wood recently played with the Carolina Classics, coached by Blue Edwards, a former East Carolina star and NBA player, at the adidas Tournament of Champions, where she showed athleticism, long-range touch, ballhandling and defensive prowess. She is long and quick, and recently was the leading scorer in the Nike Jr. Phenom All-American Camp all-star game. She also was selected to represent North Carolina at the AAU Junior Olympics in Hampton, Va., later this month.
Wood averaged 20 points, six rebounds and four assists during her sophomore season at Victory Christian.
The University of North Carolina plays a large role in Wood's family. In addition to her father and sister, her mother, Robin, also attended UNC and her brother, A.J., presently is a student at Chapel Hill. Martina Wood played in 18 games during her freshman season.
Al Wood is the fourth all-time leading scorer in Tar Heel history and a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team. He was the fourth overall picks in the 1981 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks and played six seasons in the NBA. Wood has been selected to coach Team North Carolina at the AAU Junior Olympic Games.
Glenn Nelson is the publisher of HoopGurlz.com and the editor-in-chief of Scout Media (www.Scout.com), an online sports network and magazine-publishing company and subsidiary of Fox Interactive Media. Glenn also founded and coached
the Dragons and Northwest HoopGurlz select girls basketball teams. He previously was a longtime, national-award-winning basketball columnist and writer for The Seattle
Times. His work also has appeared in several national magazines and books. He is co-author of "Rising Stars: The Ten Best Players in the NBA" (Rosen Publishing, 2002). He can be reached at hoopgurlz@comcast.net.
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