The University of North Carolina women’s basketball team handed the No. 18 North Carolina State University Wolfpack a 83-70 loss in Carmichael Arena on Sunday afternoon in the annual “Play4Kay” game.
“It was a great game and a great crowd,” North Carolina head coach, Sylvia Hatchell, said. “We’ve played really, really well at times, but we haven’t been able to put a whole game together. But today is a great win for us against a really, really good N.C. State team.”
North Carolina (13-9, 2-7 ACC) tied a school-record with 14 3-pointers throughout the game.
Junior guard Jamie Cherry, who had 23 points, led the Tar Heels. Cherry didn’t make a basket the entire first half, but made up for it by hitting six of the team’s 14 3-pointers in her second half run.
Redshirt sophomore guard Paris Kea followed with 21 points, while sophomore guard Stephanie Watts added 19 points.
N.C. State (16-6, 6-3 ACC) was led by Dominique Wilson’s 18 points and Miah Spencer’s 15.
UNC got off to a hot start in front of a crowd of 5,998, shooting 53 percent in the first quarter, while holding NCSU to a low 19 percent from the field.
With the help of a quarter-ending 8-0 run from the Tar Heels, North Carolina had built a 22-10 lead to enter the second quarter.
Consistently plagued with slow second quarters, the Tar Heels were outscored by the Wolfack, 17-13. With five minutes remaining in the second quarter UNC had built an 18-point lead, however, a 10-0 Wolfpack run then brought NCSU back up to speed.
UNC led 35-27 at halftime.
Early in the third quarter the Wolfpack only trailed by seven, but four consecutive UNC 3-pointers, three of which came from Cherry, gave the Tar Heels the momentum moving forward.
At the end of the third quarter, UNC had built a 61-45 lead.
The closest N.C. State would come in the fourth quarter was a deficit of five, with about six minutes remaining, but quick back-to-back 3-pointers from Cherry put the game at arm’s length away.
“I thought that really kind of put it back out of reach,” N.C. State head coach, Wes Moore, said. “It was tough on our kids who fought so hard to get back in it and then have those two daggers that kind of take the wind out of your sails.”
Overall, the Wolfpack shot 33 percent from the field in the game, while the Tar Heels had a 53 percent clip. Moore said a large factor in the game was fast break points – where UNC had 27 and NCSU had only six.
“That’s the ball game right there,” he said. “You’ve got to give them credit – they pushed tempo, they got down, they found the open people. We’ve been a very good team against transition and they’ve been a very good team in transition, and so today they won that battle, no doubt.”
Hatchell said she was proud of her athletes for sharing the ball and playing strong team basketball. Cherry echoed her sentiment in that she credited her teammates for their passing abilities and vision in finding her open.
“I rank it as one of the best wins I’ve had since I’ve been here, to be honest,” Cherry said. It was exciting. We played together and we had fun and we got the win. All four of our guards can shoot, so when all of us are on nobody can stop us.”
Every game is important to Hatchell, but perhaps the annual “Play4Kay” game in memory of N.C. State’s Kay Yow holds just a little more weight.
Yow was the coach of the N.C. State women’s basketball team from 1975 until January 2009 when she had to take a leave of absence due to her battle with Stage IV breast cancer. Yow passed away shortly after on January 24, leaving behind a great legacy not only in sports, but also in resiliency and positivity.
Hatchell, a survivor of leukemia and a former friend of Yow’s, said that although the “Play4Kay” game is an annual occurrence, the importance and emotion of the game is not lost on her.
“It was special because it was ‘Play4Kay,’” Hatchell said. “Of course Kay and I had a very special relationship and I try to do as much as I can to help the Kay Yow Foundation. Every day is a blessing and every day is a great day.”
Hatchell said she is simply grateful to be back to work and to her everyday life.
“When I think of where I was three years ago I wasn’t sure I was going to be here right now, and not just the fact that I beat the worst kind of leukemia you can have, but that I am 100% back,” she said. “It’s over. I’ve beat it. I’m just trying every day to do whatever I can to help people when they go through situations.”
The Tar Heels will be back in action next Sunday for an away game at Clemson University at two o’clock.
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