With the UNC women’s basketball team’s NCAA Tournament chances essentially up in smoke at this point, it was announced Tuesday afternoon that junior guards Stephanie Watts and Destinee Walker will not make their returns to the floor until next season.

Each player suffered a knee injury late in the 2016-17 campaign and neither has played in a game this year–as the Tar Heels (14-11, 4-8 ACC) have lost five consecutive games and six of their last seven.

Although senior Jamie Cherry is set to graduate following this season, Watts and Walker will be welcome additions alongside forward Janelle Bailey (six-time ACC Rookie of the Week) and guard Paris Kea (tied for third in ACC at 19.8 points per game).

Neither player will lose a year of eligibility, meaning they will each be juniors and still have two years remaining.

Watts–a 5-foot-11-inch native of Wesley Chapel, North Carolina–was previously named the 2016 ACC Freshman of the Year.

She ranks among the top 10 in program history in career scoring (15.7 ppg) and rebounding average (7.5 rpg), and set an ACC single-game record with 10 made three-pointers in a win over Charleston Southern as a sophomore.

Meanwhile, Walker averaged 13.3 points per game over her first two seasons in Chapel Hill–and was the team’s defensive player of the year following each season as well.

Both players were also McDonald’s All-Americans coming out of high school.

 

 

Photo via Jeffrey A. Camarati (UNC Athletics)

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