On an afternoon when No. 8 Virginia Tech celebrated Senior Day for stars Georgia Amoore and Elizabeth Kitley, the UNC women’s basketball team stood no chance against the hot-shooting Hokies. Amoore and Kitley nearly outscored the Tar Heels by themselves, combining for 53 points (34 of which came from Kitley) in a 74-62 win over Carolina. It’s UNC’s sixth straight loss to the Hokies and second this season.

Deja Kelly did all she could to keep her team in the game, scoring a career-high 29 points. But the Tar Heels couldn’t overcome a disastrous first quarter which saw Virginia Tech leap out to a 21-5 lead. UNC scored first on a three from Lexi Donarski, but the Hokies dominated from there.

Carolina held its nerve and managed to cut the deficit down to six at halftime on a buzzer-beating three from Kelly, but Virginia Tech steadily pushed the lead back to 10 by the end of the third quarter and extended it to as large as 19 in the fourth.

Kelly’s 29-point outing came as no other Tar Heel scored more than 10. Carolina was once again dealing with a razor-thin bench, as neither Reniya Kelly nor Paulina Paris dressed for the game. Deja Kelly and Donarski played all 40 minutes. The Tar Heels shot just 23-59 (39 percent) as a team, compared to Virginia Tech’s 27-51 (52.9 percent) performance. The Hokies shot 62.5 percent in the second half.

The loss drops Carolina to 18-10 overall and 10-6 in conference play, now likely out of the running for a Top 4 seed in the ACC Tournament with just two league games left to play. The Tar Heels will be back in action on Thursday when they visit Boston College at 7 p.m.

 

Featured image via UNC Women’s Basketball on Twitter

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