By R.L. Bynum
North Carolina suffered through its worst game of the season and is left searching for answers after a dismal afternoon in South Bend.
The No. 22 Tar Heels’ two leading scorers — Ciera Toomey and Indya Nivar — combined for only four points as Notre Dame dominated UNC 73–50 on Sunday at Purcell Pavilion.
Coach Courtney Banghart said her team didn’t meet the moment, noting that “we didn’t have enough guys play well” and “we didn’t have enough guys play with enough physicality and toughness.”
UNC (13–5, 2–3 ACC), now 1–7 in Quad 1 games, looked disjointed offensively, struggled on the boards (outrebounded 40–32) and unraveled with a season-high 22 turnovers while shooting a season-worst 34.5% from the floor.
“[Notre Dame] played with an incredible amount of urgency and toughness, and showed itself in a lot of ways,” Banghart said.
Nivar, who fouled out with 3:58 remaining, didn’t score until her four points in the fourth quarter. Toomey, who Banghart said had no physical issues, played a season-low 12 minutes, missing all five shots and pulling down only two rebounds.
Nyla Harris led UNC with 14 points, eight rebounds and three steals, while Lanie Grant added nine points on three 3-pointers.
Banghart was asked about the accountability for her and her staff after the collapse a week earlier in the loss to Stanford and the poor performance at Notre Dame.
“I think we do a good job as a staff and as a program of pointing inward,” Banghart said. “When we don’t perform well, I’m guilty and disappointed as everybody else. At the same time, the beauty of this game is it’s played by players, honestly, and that’s the beauty of it. … There’s not a whole lot I can do to help them rebound. That’s just not a lot I can do, just like free throws … I can’t really do that. But that’s just minimizing the importance that we all have to continue to get better. And, so, I take as much ownership and accountability as 10 [Reniya Kelly], which is why she’s sitting here with me. We both have to be better, and we have to find a way to make sure everybody else along with us does, too.”
Carolina went with a small lineup for the most part, but it did little to keep Hannah Hidalgo (31 points, eight rebounds, seven steals and six assists), Cassandra Prosper (17 points and 14 rebounds) and former Duke star Vanessa de Jesus (16 points and four 3-pointers) from tearing apart the Tar Heels’ defense.
Banghart said Hidalgo was disruptive, making it tough for Carolina to move the ball.
“We just really like to stay calm, be connected as a team,” said Kelly, who scored eight points. “I feel like this game, we didn’t do that. We kind of let her have her high, and we never let her go back down. And so we just have to find a calm with on the court, and I don’t think we did that well tonight.”
The Irish (12–4, 4–2) held UNC to its lowest point total of the season, well below the previous low in a 78–60 loss to UCLA.
Banghart pointed to a broader theme, saying this point in the season is about discovering “how good we can be in moments of adversity,” adding that “the physical game is clearly a bit much right now for our guys.”
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Carolina missed its first nine shots before Kelly finally hit a jumper nearly 4½ minutes in. Notre Dame wasn’t much better early, making just one of its first six attempts and leading only 4–2. A Henderson layup punctuated a 7–3 UNC run that tied it at nine with 2:44 left in the first quarter. The Irish answered with a 6–0 burst to end the period ahead 15–9.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Prosper and de Jesus pushed the Irish lead to eight late in the second quarter, and Notre Dame carried a 33–27 advantage into halftime.
Banghart said Carolina’s early energy faded, explaining that when the game tightened later, “we turned the ball over too much” and “allowed too much easy offense for them, which makes everything feel heavier.”
The second half unraveled quickly.
UNC missed its first six shots after the break before an Elina Aarnisalo jumper finally ended a nearly five-minute drought in the middle of a 16–2 Notre Dame run. De Jesus buried three straight 3-pointers during that stretch.
The Irish led 55–33 after holding UNC to five third-quarter points, the fewest the Tar Heels have scored in any period this season.
Banghart didn’t mince words about the quarter, saying it was “not a great quarter across the board” and that “we just didn’t bring enough of a fighter spirit to that end.”
It hardly improved from there. Notre Dame opened the fourth with a 9–3 run to push the margin to 29.
Banghart made it clear that the group must respond the right way.
“All these things are really part of the maturation of the season, and we got to handle it the right way,” Banghart said.
Notes
— Carolina returns home at 7 p.m. Thursday (ACC Network Extra) to face Miami (11–6, 3–3). The Hurricanes beat Florida State in a Sunday home game 89–73.
— UNC’s five third-quarter points came after matching its previous low for a quarter with nine in the first quarter (also in the second quarter of the loss at Louisville).
—Carolina has lost back-to-back games for the first time since losing the last two games of the regular season last season (at Duke and vs. Virginia).
— The turnover total for UNC topped the 19 against Texas and N.C. Central. It was the Tar Heels’ most turnovers since committing 25 last season on Jan. 9 in a 53–46 overtime win against Duke.
— It was UNC’s lowest point total since the 47–38 Sweet 16 loss to Duke last season.
— One of the few bright spots was UNC shooting 8 of 11 from the free-throw line for 72.7%, tied for the fifth-best this season.
— UNC’s previous worst shooting game was 34.9% in the loss to UCLA.
—Laila Hull came out in the first quarter holding her hamstring.
—UNC’s sixth loss in seven visits to South Bend extended Notre Dame’s lead in the series to 12–5
Notre Dame 73, No. 22 UNC 50
| Team | League | Overall | NET* | WAB* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 13 Duke | 16–2 | 21–8 | 10 | 13 |
| No. 12 Louisville | 15–3 | 25–6 | 13 | 10 |
| No. 16 North Carolina | 14–4 | 25–6 | 19 | 14 |
| N.C. State | 13–5 | 20–9 | 23 | 27 |
| Syracuse | 12–6 | 22–7 | 40 | 31 |
| Virginia Tech | 12–6 | 22–8 | 41 | 34 |
| Notre Dame | 12–6 | 20–9 | 24 | 23 |
| Clemson | 11–7 | 20–10 | 44 | 40 |
| Virginia | 11–7 | 19–10 | 36 | 49 |
| California | 9–9 | 18–13 | 53 | 60 |
| Stanford | 8–10 | 19–12 | 42 | 56 |
| Miami | 8–10 | 16–13 | 58 | 65 |
| Georgia Tech | 7–10 | 12–17 | 76 | 109 |
| Florida State | 5–13 | 10–20 | 107 | 138 |
| Wake Forest | 4–14 | 14–16 | 121 | 134 |
| SMU | 2–16 | 9–21 | 220 | 209 |
| Pittsburgh | 1–17 | 8–23 | 262 | 238 |
| Boston College | 1–17 | 5–26 | 247 | 283 |
* — Through Sunday games
Thursday’s results
No. 16 North Carolina 82, Virginia 70
No. 12 Louisville 69, Georgia Tech 50
Notre Dame 72, Syracuse 62
Miami 79, Pittsburgh 58
N.C. State 65, Wake Forest 58
No. 13 Duke 80, Florida State 52
Stanford 87, SMU 57
Clemson 70, California 63
Sunday’s results
No. 16 North Carolina 74, No. 13 Duke 69
Virginia Tech 83, Virginia 82
Georgia Tech 79, Miami 49
N.C. State 93, Pittsburgh 43
Stanford 85, Clemson 50
Syracuse 90, Boston College 65
Notre Dame 65, No. 12 Louisville 62
Florida State 77, Wake Forest 74, OT
California 78, SMU 34
End of regular season
ACC tournament
Gas South Arena
Duluth, Ga.
March 4–8
| Date | Day/ month | Times/ scores | Opponent/event (rank in final poll) | TV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | Exhibitions | |||
| 18 | Sunday | W, 76–66 | vs. Davidson | |
| 24 | Saturday | 1 p.m. | at No. 20 Maryland | B1G+ * |
| November | Regular season | |||
| 2 | Monday | 2:30 ET | Oui-Play in Paris vs. No. 12 Oklahoma | ESPN2 |
| 8 | Sunday | 5:30 | Ally Tipoff in Charlotte vs. No. 2 South Carolina | ESPN |
| 11 | Wednesday | 7 p.m. | vs. N.C. Central | ACCNE |
| 14 | Saturday | 4 p.m. | at Penn in Palestra | ESPN+ |
| WBCA Showcase | Orlando | |||
| 19 | Thursday | 6 p.m. | vs. Texas Tech | ESPN2 |
| 21 | Saturday | 5 p.m. | vs. No. 24 Alabama | ESPN+ |
| ——— | ||||
| 24 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | vs. Gardner-Webb | ACCNE |
| 27 | Friday | 7 p.m. | vs. Army | ACCNE |
| 29 | Sunday | 4 p.m. | vs. Brown | ACCN |
| December | ||||
| 2 | Wednesday | 7:15 | ACC/SEC Women’s Challenge vs. No. 8 LSU | ESPN2 |
| 6 | Sunday | 2 p.m. | vs. Elon | ACCN |
| 9 | Wednesday | 11 a.m. | vs. Winthrop | ACCNE |
| 13 | Sunday | 6 p.m. | vs. N.C. State | ESPN |
| 17 | Thursday | 6 p.m. | vs. Georgia Tech | ACCN |
| 21 | Monday | 7 p.m. | vs. Norfolk State | ACCN |
| 28 | Monday | 8 p.m. | vs. UNCW | ACCN |
| 31 | Thursday | 6 p.m. | at Syracuse | ACCN |
| January | ||||
| 3 | Sunday | 2 p.m. | at Clemson | The CW |
| 7 | Thursday | 8 p.m. | vs. Wake Forest | ACCN |
| 10 | Sunday | 3 p.m. | at No. 11 Louisville | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| 17 | Sunday | 4 p.m. | vs. Boston College | ACCN |
| 21 | Thursday | 8 p.m. ET | at California | ACCN |
| 24 | Sunday | 2 p.m. ET | at Stanford | ESPN, 2 or U |
| 28 | Thursday | 6 p.m. | vs. No. 9 Notre Dame | ESPN |
| 31 | Sunday | 5 p.m. | vs. No. 5 Duke | ESPN |
| February | ||||
| 4 | Thursday | 7 p.m. | at Miami | ACCNE |
| 7 | Sunday | 6 p.m. | vs. Virginia Tech | ACCN |
| 14 | Sunday | 2 p.m. | at SMU | ACCNE |
| 18 | Thursday | 6 p.m. | at Pittsburgh | ACCN |
| 21 | Sunday | Noon | vs. Florida State | The CW |
| 25 | Thursday | 8 p.m. | vs. No. 19 Virginia | ACCN |
| 28 | Sunday | 4 p.m. | at No. 5 Duke | ESPN |
| March | ||||
| 3–7 | Wed.-Sun. | ACC tournament | Spectrum Center, Charlotte |
* — The Big Ten Network’s B1G+ is a subscription service.
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
