UNC’s run in the ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament was ended Friday afternoon at the Greensboro Coliseum, as the eighth-seeded Tar Heels suffered a 95-77 loss at the hands of No. 1 seed Notre Dame–the No. 4 ranked team in the country.

It was a rematch of a game played in Chapel Hill last month, when the Tar Heels (18-14, 8-8 ACC) upset the Fighting Irish (28-3, 14-2 ACC). Notre Dame was ranked No. 1 at the time of the historic upset.

On Friday, however, the Fighting Irish shot 58 percent from the field and left no doubt about the game’s final outcome.

Notre Dame got 28 points from star Arike Ogunbowale, built a seven-point halftime lead and were never threatened in the second half.

Senior guard Paris Kea led UNC with 27 points playing in her hometown, while sophomore forward Janelle Bailey chipped in 19 points and 10 rebounds.

“I just told the team in the locker room, I would not want to play us in the NCAA Tournament,” UNC head coach Sylvia Hatchell said afterwards. “Because we’re capable of beating anybody. We showed that by playing like we did. If we hadn’t played back-to-back we probably would have had a little more gas there in the second half. But we’re looking forward to it because I feel like we’re just peaking right now”

Up Next:

The Tar Heels will now just have to wait until Sunday to see if they had a good enough season to qualify for this year’s NCAA Tournament.

 

 

FINAL BOX SCORE

 

 

Photo via UNC Athletics

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