The UNC women’s basketball team’s eight-game winning streak was snapped Sunday at Louisville, as the Tar Heels fell to the Cardinals 62-55. Louisville is now 9-1 against Carolina since joining the ACC.

A pedestrian offensive effort doomed the Tar Heels, as they made just one three-pointer on 12 attempts and shot 33 percent from the floor. The team had to work without the services of junior Alyssa Ustby, who was ruled out of the game due to a lower-body injury suffered in practice. Ustby is the team’s third-leading scorer and leading rebounder.

Her absence on the glass was felt sharply, as the taller Cardinals won the rebounding battle 46-35 and scored 18 second-chance points.

The Tar Heels led by a point at halftime and by as many as nine in the third quarter, but a 13-1 Louisville run flipped the lead to the home team. Carolina wouldn’t see the lead or even tie the game again, cutting it to a point in the fourth quarter but immediately giving up five straight to the Cardinals.

Junior guard Deja Kelly led Carolina with 13 points, but made just three of her 16 shots and did much of her scoring at the foul stripe. Freshman Paulina Paris, once again starting in place of Eva Hodgson, scored 12. Destiny Adams got the start in favor of Ustby, but didn’t score a single point on just one shot attempt in 18 minutes.

Teonni Key and Kayla McPherson combined for 11 points off the bench, but Louisville’s Chrislyn Carr scored 17 points off the bench by herself, part of a 28-11 advantage for the Cardinals in bench points.

The loss, the team’s first in a month, drops Carolina to 17-6 overall and 8-4 in ACC play. Up next is a trip up north to Syracuse, who will host the Tar Heels a 7 p.m. on Thursday, February 9.

 

Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Jeffrey A. Camarati

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