No. 15 North Carolina was knocked out of the ACC Women’s Tournament Saturday night by No. 10 Louisville in a 77-75 overtime loss. The Tar Heels had made it to the quarterfinals and looked to knock out at least one of the top-seeded teams from reaching the semifinals.
UNC freshman Jamie Cherry threw up a 40-foot nail-biter with less than two seconds left on clock to tie the game at 66 and send the game into overtime.
In Louisville’s first ever ACC Tournament game, the Cardinals quickly trimmed a 10-point lead UNC held over them with fewer than 10 minutes to play.
With 40 points scored in the paint compared to UNC’s 28, U of L knew just where to attack.
“We were letting Carolina do what they wanted to do, and we just talked about getting back to the basics,” Louisville Head Coach Jeff Walz said. “We tried to make sure we played scouting report defense and on the offensive end, we actually finally started to execute. We pushed the ball in transition and got some layups and also ran through some things.”
Louisville senior Sara Hammond led the Cardinals with 20 points as she scored eight times on nine shots at the free throw line – a key statistic for her team at the end of the game.
UNC’s Jessica Washington scored a team high 16 points and netted three 3-pointers. Junior N’Dea Bryant also played big for Carolina as she scored 13 points and snatched three steals.
Allisha Gray was evidently off beat on the court. She only scored seven points and grabbed five rebounds in 30 minutes on the floor.
Her time was cut short when she committed her fifth foul with 2 minutes left in regulation. Coach Sylvia Hatchell said losing her at the end of the game was reminiscent to the February 15th matchup between UNC and Louisville.
“The first time, she played really well, and this is probably the worst I’ve seen Allisha play,” Coach Hatchell said. “I kept thinking she was going to get going but she didn’t and they were targeting her a lot.”
Even amid her slump, Gray still made history that night as the 35th player in program history to obtain 1,000 points. With Gray only in her second year at Carolina, that mark shows very promising for the Heels.
And Carolina’s season is not over yet. The NCAA will determine the bracketology of the big dance in the coming weeks as the Tar Heels take on March Madness.
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