By R.L. Bynum
CHAPEL HILL — While two of No. 8 North Carolina’s best players watched from the bench, ensuring they’re ready for tournament play, the short-handed Tar Heels leaned on their depth and heavily on Maria Gakdeng.
Even with a career day from the senior center, it wasn’t enough to pull out a senior day victory on Sunday as UNC blew an eight-point lead in the last 5:22 and lost 78–75 to a scrappy Virginia team at Carmichael Arena.
“We ran out of gas, I thought, and just really couldn’t get out of playing tired in that second half,” said UNC coach Courtney Banghart, whose team has lost back-to-back games for the first time this season. “We’ll get them as rested as we can, and get as healthy as we can, and get right back to it.”
Senior Lexi Donarski, who poured in 18 points and four 3-pointers in 38 minutes, missed a contested 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have forced overtime in UNC’s sixth game decided by four points or fewer.
Gakdeng collected career-highs of 25 points (the most by a Tar Heel this season) and five assists while pulling down nine rebounds but didn’t score in the last 6:48.
Reniya Kelly (right knee), who has been UNC’s best player for much of the season and is the engine behind the Tar Heels’ offense, missed her second consecutive game and graduate wing Alyssa Ustby (left knee) missed her fourth consecutive game. Banghart said that both will play in the NCAA tournament.
“They’re now practicing a bit, so they’re getting closer,” Banghart said. “You’re losing two guys that have a ton of toughness, but they also play almost 30 minutes a game. So that’s 60 minutes that you’re adding to other people’s plates.”
Ustby, Gakdeng and Donarski were senior day honorees, along with graduate guard Grace Townsend and redshirt junior guard Kayla McPherson (who has missed the entire season).
Carolina (25–6, 13–5 ACC) will open ACC tournament play as the No. 5 seed in the second round at 11 a.m. Thursday against the winner of Wednesday’s Boston College-Syracuse game. With a win, the Tar Heels would face No. 4-seed Florida State at 11 a.m. Friday.
The Cavaliers (16–14, 8–10) made all six free-throw attempts in the last 27 seconds to pull the upset of UNC and scored 11 3-pointers, their second most this season. It ended Virginia’s 16-game losing streak at Carmichael, with its first win since Jan. 11, 2001, before any players on either team were born.
Virginia went to a zone late in the first half, slowing down the Tar Heels’ tempo and daring them to shoot perimeter shots. The Tar Heels scored only two 3-pointers in the second half and shot 20.7% from outside the arc for the game (6 for 29), tied for the second-worst this season.
“We didn’t make shots. We also turned the ball over, uncharacteristically, especially late in the fourth quarter,” said Banghart, whose team committed six of its 14 turnovers in the final quarter.
Junior Indya Nivar pitched in 12 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals. In her second consecutive start, freshman guard Lanie Grant played 36 minutes and scored seven points on 3 of 12 shooting.
Donarski came out firing, scoring UNC’s first eight points, including two 3-pointers. That started a 17–4 run after Virginia led 4–0. A Grant 3-pointer gave the Tar Heels a nine-point lead with 5:32 left in the opening quarter. UNC went on an 8–3 run, and led 27–17 after one quarter after Grant hit a jumper at the buzzer.
Grant’s bucket started an 8–0 run to balloon the lead to 16 in the first 94 seconds of the second quarter. Virginia took advantage of a nearly 4½-minute UNC scoring drought to score six straight points and trim the lead to 10 on a Latasha Lattimore 3-pointer with 4:59 left in the first half.
A Townsend 3-pointer ended a nearly five-minute field goal drought and started an 8–0 run to push the lead to 18 points. Virginia scored the last seven points of the first half to cut UNC’s halftime lead to 41–30.
The Cavaliers chopped their deficit to four with an 11–4 run to start the second half as the Heels struggled to deal with Virginia’s zone. Gakdeng scored eight of UNC’s first 10 second-half points but Virginia scored four 3-pointers in the first 4½ second-half minutes.
Paris Clark’s 3-pointer with 2:56 left in the third quarter sliced UNC’s lead to one before a Gakdeng 3-point play and a transition Donarski layup started an 8–2 run to push the lead back to seven on a Donarski 3-pointer. Latasha Lattimore hit Virginia’s sixth 3-pointer of the third quarter to cut UNC’s lead to 60–56 entering the final quarter.
Gakdeng scored six points in an 11–5 run to give UNC an eight-point lead on a transition Nivar layup with 5:22 left. Edessa Noyan’s 3-pointer, a Kymora Johnson drive and a Lattimore bucket cut UNC’s lead to one with 2:15 left.
The teams traded one-point leads in the final minute: Johnson’s two free throws with 27.3 seconds putting Virginia up, Nivar’s drive with 19.2 seconds left giving UNC the lead and Paris Clark’s two free throws with 13.1 seconds giving the lead back to the Cavaliers. Johnson gave Virginia a three-point lead on two free throws with 3.2 seconds left before Donarski’s miss at the buzzer.
Virginia only played six players, led by Lattimore’s 23 points and two 3-pointers, Clark’s 17 points and three 3-pointers and Johnson’s 15 points.
NOTES — In the Friday NCAA tournament projection of ESPN’s Charlie Crème, UNC is a No. 3 seed in one of the Spokane regionals, hosting first- and second-round games. … UNC is 1–6 when giving up more than 67 points, with the lone win 79–75 at Louisville on Feb. 23, and 24–0 when giving up 67 points or fewer. … Carolina is 2–4 when an opponent scores at least nine 3-pointers. … Gakdeng was riding an exercise bike before the game. … Former UNC forward RyLee Grays is now at Virginia but didn’t play in the game. … Sophomore guard Sydney Barker played for the first time since the Wake Forest game on Jan. 23, entering the game late in the first half. … Virginia beat UNC for the second consecutive meeting, but the Tar Heels lead the series 59–36, including 28–13 in Chapel Hill.
Virginia 78, No. 8 UNC 75
| Team | League | Overall | NET* |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. 16 Louisville | 2–0 | 11–3 | 14 |
| Syracuse | 1–0 | 10–1 | 40 |
| Wake Forest | 1–0 | 10–2 | 125 |
| Stanford | 1–0 | 9–2 | 33 |
| No. 20 Notre Dame | 1–0 | 8–2 | 19 |
| Virginia | 1–0 | 8–3 | 29 |
| N.C. State | 1–0 | 7–4 | 30 |
| Duke | 1–0 | 4–6 | 38 |
| Clemson | 1–1 | 8–4 | 49 |
| No. 18 North Carolina | 0–1 | 10–3 | 17 |
| Virginia Tech | 0–1 | 8–3 | 63 |
| California | 0–1 | 8–4 | 68 |
| Miami | 0–1 | 6–4 | 48 |
| Pittsburgh | 0–1 | 6–6 | 254 |
| SMU | 0–1 | 5–6 | 153 |
| Florida State | 0–1 | 4–8 | 112 |
| Georgia Tech | 0–1 | 4–8 | 118 |
| Boston College | 0–1 | 4–9 | 208 |
* — Through Tuesday games
Tuesday’s result
Syracuse 72, Binghamton 54
Wednesday’s games
No. 18 North Carolina 84, UNCW 34
Clemson 78, Charleston Southern 52
No. 16 Louisville 76, Eastern Kentucky 51
Thursday’s games
Virginia Tech at Florida State, 6 p.m., ACCN Extra
Miami at Wake Forest, 6 p.m., ACCN Extra
Saint Francis at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m., ACCN Extra
Georgia Tech at N.C. State, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
South Dakota State at Duke, 7 p.m., ACC Network
Friday’s games
Mercyhurst at Syracuse, 10:30 a.m, ACCN Extra
Northeastern at Boston College, noon, ACCN Extra
SMU at Sam Houston, 6 p.m., ESPN+
No. 22 Washington at Stanford, 10 p.m., ACCN Extra
Saturday’s games
No. 16 Louisville at No. 17 Tennessee, 11 a.m., Fox
Winthrop at Virginia, noon, ACCN Extra
South Carolina State at Florida State, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
Duke at Belmont, 3 p.m., ESPN+
Sunday’s games
Charleston Southern at No. 18 North Carolina, noon, ACC Network
Radford at Virginia Tech, noon, ACCN Extra
Kennesaw State at Miami, noon, ACCN Extra
N.C. State at Davidson, noon, CBS Sports Network
Pittsburgh at Duquesne, 1 p.m., ESPN+
North Florida at Clemson, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
Bellarmine at No. 20 Notre Dame, 5 p.m., ACCN Extra
Southern at SMU, 5 p.m., ACCN Extra
Oregon vs. Stanford in San Francisco, 6 p.m., ESPN
No. 19 USC vs. California in San Francisco, 8:30, ESPN
| Date | Day/month | Time | Opponent/event (current ranks) | TV/ record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | ||||
| 30 | Thursday | L, 91–82 | No. 3 South Carolina in Atlanta | Exhib. |
| November | ||||
| 3 | Monday | W, 90–42 | vs. N.C. Central | 1–0 |
| 6 | Thursday | W, 71–37 | vs. Elon | 2–0 |
| WBCA Challenge Las Vegas | ||||
| 13 | Thursday | L, 78–60 | vs. No. 4 UCLA | 2–1 |
| 15 | Saturday | W, 82–68 | vs. Fairfield | 3–1 |
| ——————————— | ||||
| 20 | Thursday | W, 85–50 | at N.C. A&T | 4–1 |
| 23 | Sunday | W, 94–48 | vs. UNCG | 5–1 |
| Cancun Challenge Cancun, Mexico | ||||
| 27 | Thursday | W, 83–48 | vs. South Dakota St. | 6–1 |
| 28 | Friday | W, 85–73 | vs. Kansas State | 7–1 |
| 29 | Saturday | W, 80–63 | vs. Columbia | 8–1 |
| December | ACC/SEC Women’s Challenge | |||
| 4 | Thursday | W, 79–64 | at No. 2 Texas | 8–2 |
| ——————————— | ||||
| 7 | Sunday | W, 82–40 | vs. Boston Univ. | 9–2 |
| 14 | Sunday | L, 76–66, OT | vs. No. 16 Louisville | 9–3, 0–1 ACC |
| 17 | Wednesday | W, 84–34 | vs. UNCW | 10–3 |
| 21 | Sunday | Noon | vs. Charleston Southern | ACCN Extra |
| 29 | Monday | 8 p.m. | at Boston College | ACCN |
| January | ||||
| 1 | Thursday | Noon | vs. California | ACCN |
| 4 | Sunday | 1 p.m. | vs. Stanford | ESPN |
| 11 | Sunday | 1 p.m. | at No. 20 Notre Dame | ESPN |
| 15 | Thursday | 7 p.m. | vs. Miami | ACCN Extra |
| 18 | Sunday | 2 p.m. | at Florida State | The CW |
| 22 | Thursday | 8 p.m. | at Georgia Tech | ACCN |
| 25 | Sunday | 2 p.m. | vs. Syracuse | The CW |
| February | ||||
| 2 | Monday | 6 p.m. | at N.C. State | ESPN2 |
| 5 | Thursday | 7 p.m. | vs. Clemson | ACCN |
| 8 | Sunday | 2 p.m. | vs. Wake Forest | ACCN |
| 12 | Thursday | 6 p.m. | vs. SMU | ACCN |
| 15 | Sunday | 1 p.m. | at Duke | ABC |
| 19 | Thursday | 6 p.m. | at Virginia Tech | ACCN |
| 22 | Sunday | Noon | vs. Pittsburgh | ACCN |
| 26 | Thursday | 7 p.m. | at Virginia | ACCN Extra |
| March | ||||
| 1 | Sunday | Noon | vs. Duke | ESPN |
| ACC tournament | ||||
| 4–8 | Wed.-Sun | Gas South Arena, Duluth, Ga. | ||
| NCAA tournament | ||||
| 20–24 | Fri.-Mon. | First, second rounds | ||
| 27–30 | Fri.-Mon. | Regionals Fort Worth, Texas, and Sacramento, Calif. | ||
| April | ||||
| 3, 5 | Fri., Sun | Final Four Phoenix |
Photos by Smith Hardy
tarheeltribune.com 