UNC Holds Out for 71-67 Win

The North Carolina women’s basketball team picked up its second consecutive win with a suspenseful 71-67 victory over Virginia Tech on Thursday night in Carmichael Arena. UNC now stands at 14-12 on the season with a 4-7 ACC record.

The nail-biting victory came at the hands of several Tar Heels, with four players scoring double digits. Freshman guard Stephanie Watts once again led Carolina with 18 points and eight rebounds.

Redshirt junior forward Hillary Summers completed her seventh double-double of the season with 13 points and 11 rebounds, while sophomore guard Jamie Cherry contributed 15 points and five assists. Freshman guard Destinee Walker added 17 points.

The Hokies, now 15-9 on the season, were led by senior forward Hannah Young’s 22 points, followed by junior guard Vanessa Panousis, who contributed 14 points.

“We shot almost 50 percent and I thought that was pretty good because they’re a really good team,” head coach Sylvia Hatchell said. “They’ve had some big wins and some excellent players and some excellent shooters. They’re a great perimeter shooting team, but these guys have just continued to get better and better. We’re light-years away from where we were in November and that’s because they’ve worked hard.”

North Carolina jumped ahead quickly, as the Tar Heels played with energy and tenacity, forcing Hokies head coach Dennis Wolff to call an early timeout with about three minutes remaining in the first period after a Destinee Walker three-pointer, her first of three on the night. UNC would lead 23-10 by the end of the period.

North Carolina had a somewhat lofty lead at halftime, winning 38-21 after making four of their last five shots in the period, and shooting 50 percent at the half. The first half also featured a 46 percent three-pointer completion rate for UNC.

“We did a great job of jumping out at the beginning, as we haven’t been doing in our past couple games that we’ve been losing,” Cherry said. “We actually tied a third quarter and that was our coach’s biggest deal, was to win the third quarter. Even though they outscored us in the fourth, we still hung tough and we stayed poised down the stretch as we did at Boston College and we did tonight.”

What eventually allowed the Hokies to climb right back into the game, despite never achieving a lead and never tying more than once, was not UNC’s usual dreaded third period. What almost did the Tar Heels in was their fourth period, in which they allowed the Hokies to score 24 points, compared to their 11 points.

North Carolina entered the final period of the game with what may have been assumed as a potentially comfortable lead at 60-43, but a 60 percent field-goal percentage and a 66 percent three-point percentage brought the Hokies right up to speed with the Tar Heels. UNC stalled in the first six minutes or so of the final period, scoring only two points and allowing Virginia Tech to creep back within eight points at 62-54.

A 20-4 run eventually relinquished North Carolina’s lead to just one point, at 64-63 with only 44 seconds remaining in the game. A game of cat and mouse, the Tar Heels and Hokies exchanged fouls as the seconds on the clock eventually ticked away. UNC went 7-for-8 from the free-throw line in order to secure the win.

Perhaps the biggest of the free-throws were Erika Johnson’s two baskets. Johnson, a redshirt senior forward, is a 39 percent free-throw shooter on the season.

“They’ve had great attitudes and they’re just fun to be around,” Hatchell said. “They make it exciting, that’s for sure. Foul shooting was big, we went 20-for-22 from the foul line and that was major. A good balance with our scoring, we out-rebounded. That was big. It’s fun to win and now we got to get ready for Florida. These guys did a great job”

Next for North Carolina is a two o’clock road game on Sunday at Florida State University.

FINAL BOX SCORE

UNC Holds Out for 71-67 Win

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