The University of North Carolina women’s basketball team suffered its first conference loss on Sunday afternoon in Purcell Pavilion. Notre Dame overpowered the Tar Heels and came away with an 88-54 win to improve to 15-1. With the loss, UNC is now 12-6 overall and 2-1 in conference play.

The Fighting Irish’s combination of four players in double figures and 42 points off the bench completed the team effort to remain perfect in conference play. UNC scored the first few points of the game, but the largest and last lead came near the end of the first period with only a three-point advantage.

Notre Dame’s Arike Ogunbowale came off the bench for 16 points, a team-high. Aside from an impressive offensive front, the Fighting Irish held Carolina defensively, limiting Head Coach Sylvia Hatchell’s Tar Heels to a dull field-goal percentage of 30.

The Tar Heels trailed by 36 points with less than a minute remaining in the fourth period, the largest gap in the game, after returning from halftime down 47-27.

Freshman guard Stephanie Watts, last Monday’s ACC Women’s Basketball Rookie of the Week, was held to only six points, despite nearly accomplishing a triple-double in Carolina’s last game against Syracuse.

Freshman guard Destinee Walker led the team with 12 points, while sophomore guard Jamie Cherry contributed 10 points. Senior forward Xylina McDaniel reached her sixth career double-double with 12 rebounds and 10 points.

UNC next plays on Thursday, Jan. 14, in a faceoff against Georgia Tech in Atlanta.

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