Hall of Fame head coach Sylvia Hatchell’s first season post-cancer recovery has come to an end. In the final battle of the 2014-2015 campaign, North Carolina women’s basketball finished the season with a heartbreaking 67-65 loss to South Carolina. The Tar Heels have finished this season in the NCAA tournament round of 16 with an impressive 26-9 record.

Greensboro Coliseum was a sea of maroon and Carolina blue on Friday night as fans from both sides of the border gathered to watch the Battle of the Carolinas.

For the majority of the first half, UNC managed to dominate inside, despite South Carolina’s clear height advantage. That’s nothing Carolina big man Stephanie Mavunga hasn’t dealt with before. Until she was triple teamed by the USC front court; she went on a 6-0 run by herself. Mavunga finished the year with 15 double-doubles and the night with 10 points and 13 rebounds.

“I think we’ve played so much more physical teams,” Mavunga said. “I think the refs kind of let us play a lot and we both played hard but I wouldn’t say it’s the most physical (this year). We had some battles with Duke, Louisville, Notre Dame, Miami – a bunch of people that I think are tougher than they are. But I think we did a good job of handling it.”

The chance to advance made for an all-out war. Neither team held a lead for longer than a few seconds, and just when North Carolina thought they could pull away after the final media timeout, the Gamecocks kept fighting.

UNC was up 63-60 at the one-minute mark. A lucky three-pointer from the corner by senior Olivia Gaines tied the game and cost Mavunga her final foul. After sending South Carolina to the free throw line for two, sophomore Jessica Washington tied the game at 65 with a lay-up. That would be UNC’s final bucket.

SEC Player of the Year Tiffany Mitchell drove down the baseline for a wide open lay-up to put USC on top. Coach Hatchell tried to substitute in Jamie Cherry with 3.5 seconds left for her famous last second attempt at a buzzer beater, but for the first – and last time this season – it missed its mark.

“The competition we had in our conference this year, prepared us so well for this game. Because almost every game in our conference is like this,” Coach Hatchell said. “Hopefully the ACC will earn some respect. To me, we didn’t play that much better, we’ve been playing like this all year. We’ve got some doggone good teams in our league.”

On her final night in a North Carolina uniform, Latifah Coleman made her presence known. The senior guard posted 15 points for UNC to reach double figures for the 11th time this season and the 20th time in her career. Right behind her on the scoreboard for North Carolina was Allisha Gray with 12.

Danielle Butts finished her collegiate career with 8 points and Brittany Rountree ended her senior campaign with 3 points.

Gamecocks Mitchell and sophomore Alaina Coates were both the scoring leaders with 18 apiece and junior Tina Roy with 12 on 4-8 three-point shooting.

South Carolina advances to play Florida State Sunday in Greensboro for the chance to claim the regional title.

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