North Carolina envisioned ending its season with a Duke senior day spoiler in Cameron Indoor and a chance to reclaim a win they lost in overtime in the last rivalry meeting. Although UNC almost made history by netting 14 threes against the Blue Devils, it was not enough to overcome Duke’s 81-80 win on Sunday afternoon.

UNC finished its regular season with a 23-7 record and heads into the ACC tournament with a 10-6 conference mark. Duke has finished with a 20-9 record and they are 11-5 in the ACC, gaining a four-seed in the tournament.

“Between now and the time we go to Greensboro, we’re going to take some boxing lessons,” UNC head coach Sylvia Hatchell said. “We’re going to get some gloves out and go at it to get a little tougher. We have got to get tougher if we’re going to be able to battle inside.”

Carolina had a solid chance to win the game early, but Duke used its height and strength on the inside to beat UNC in a game of runs.

Out of the halftime break, UNC played the worst eight minutes of basketball it has all season. Duke was able to outscore the Tar Heels 25 to 4 on its return from the locker room. Carolina hit a peak in turnovers, suffered from a four-minute scoring drought and was forced to bench Stephanie Mavunga and Brittany Rountree as they got in very deep foul trouble.

“Coming out in the second half, we just couldn’t get things going,” coach Hatchell said. “I kept thinking we were but they came out (strong) in the second half. Sometimes I’d almost rather be a point or two behind at half time, so that way we can come out with an edge at halftime instead of being ahead. They came out and came at us hard and heavy and physical and won that battle.”

However, North Carolina tied a program record high with 14 treys made – a career-night that was established quite recently in December of 2013. Carolina netted five from both Allisha Gray and Jessica Washington Washington and two apiece from seniors Latifah Coleman and Rountree.

“I would have hoped we had done a better job on the shooters honestly whether it’s #15 (Gray) or #11 (Rountree),” Duke Head Coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “But I think we made up for it in other places and I think that’s where shooting can be overrated.”

The offense was still missing a few key pieces. Stephanie Mavunga struggled after being double-teamed by Duke every minute she was on the floor, which is why she was unable to score a field goal until 4:37 remained in the game. Mavunga still managed to finish the game with 11 points.

In the final minute, UNC made numerous attempts to cover the ground and cut the margin it let extend early in the second half. With Duke committing 3 turnovers and UNC on an 8-0 run, Mavunga had a clean-up layup that set the score at 78-77 with 30.4 seconds left.

Duke’s Azura Stevens was fouled by UNC and made her freethrows, except for one that allowed Gray to push down to the end of the court for a last second shot attempt. It didn’t fall, and when Coleman made a Hail Mary pass to Gray again for a three, it was one-point too late.

“I don’t think they were more physical but I do think, like Coach Hatchell said, height was a problem,” Gray said. “We played physical too because we fought back from being down by double digits with four minutes left and we had a comeback to bring the game back down within two.”

Azura Stevens finished with a game high 21 points and 12 rebounds for the Blue Devils. Rebecca Greenwell added 19 shooting 60 percent from the three and Elizabeth Williams finished with 18 in her final game in Cameron Indoor.

Carolina will enter the ACC Tournament with the No. 6 seed and is set to face wither 11th seed Georgia Tech or 14th Clemson Thursday at 8 p.m. in the Greensboro Coliseum.

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