WINSTON-SALEM — With seven minutes and 57 seconds remaining in Thursday night’s contest at Wake Forest, the No. 7 North Carolina women’s basketball team found itself in a heated clash.
The Tar Heels were barely grasping onto a 58-56 lead at the media timeout. WFU’s dynamic duo of Dearica Hamby and Chelsea Douglas had been causing havoc — combining for 38 points — and the fans in Joel Coliseum were crossing their fingers in hopes of upsetting their in-state foe.
But all of this would change in the remaining minutes as UNC (17-3, 5-1 ACC ) would go on to outscore WFU 25-9, limit Hamby and Douglas to four points, suck the life out of the once lively crowd and proceed back west down I-40 with a 83-65 victory .
Whether it was Stephanie Mavunga pulling in the rebound, Diamond DeShields and Allisha Gray finishing strong at the rim on the break or Jessica Washington knocking down the jump shot, each member of UNC’s freshmen quartet was able to contribute down the stretch.
Associate head coach Andrew Calder said that although the four may be classified as freshmen, they don’t play like it.
“I know everybody’s writing freshmen by their name — that’s great because we got them three more years too — but they’re really high IQ basketball players ” Calder said. “They play like juniors and seniors.”
Wake Forest, however, was led by a junior and a senior.
The two-headed monster of Hamby, who came into the game first in the ACC in scoring with 21.1 points per game, and Douglas, fourth in the ACC in scoring with 18.4, were a force to be reckoned with. They scored 22 points and 20 points, respectively.
The early deficit climbed to 9-2, but the Tar Heels never shook. UNC proceeded to go on a 20-6 run and grab a 22-15 lead after a DeShields’ 3-pointer with nine minutes and 16 seconds remaining in the half.
