Sad Ending For UNC's Barksdale

Barksdale wiped tears from her eyes, while Brown kept a smile firmly planted on her face.

For both, it was likely their last game in a North Carolina uniform. The Tar Heels dropped their quarterfinal game of the ACC tournament to Clemson and a NCAA bid will probably not be forthcoming.

It's been a hard road for Barksdale and her teammates, who finished the season at 15-14 overall and 7-9 in the ACC.

The season began with a big question mark about how the Tar Heels would react without Nikki Teasley running the point, and the record would indicate that they didn't react well.

But that wouldn't be fair, and it wouldn't be true.

Seven games were decided by a margin of three points or less -- the Tar Heels came out on the losing side five of those times. They went into overtime four times, dropping two of those games.

If more of those games had swung a different way, the Tar Heels might have had a higher seed and could still be playing in the tournament.

Watching the Tar Heels this year, it's clear the problem isn't that Teasley's not there. Coretta Brown has done a fine job and has really proved herself as UNC's floor general.

Youth could be a scapegoat, except the youth really stepped up. Six-foot-6 center Candace Sutton looked lost in the paint early in the season but now is posting up with confidence. Freshman forward Chrystal Baptist has really helped the Tar Heels off the bench, too.

It's difficult to figure out exactly what went wrong for the Tar Heels this year.

On Saturday, the problem was a terrible start, especially for Barksdale. She missed her first five attempts of the game, and she turned the ball over once and grabbed one rebound during that stretch.

It took the ACC scoring leader

7 minutes, 53 seconds to get her first basket.

At the end of the half, Barksdale was 2-of-11 from the field.

She picked up her game in the second half, shooting 5-of-8 and sinking two 3s. But it wasn't enough.

It's a sad end for the Tar Heels' most talented player.

On Friday against Georgia Tech, Barksdale came up big for her team. She started the game with an exclamation point: a 3-pointer 45 seconds into the contest.

She rolled the rest of the way, scoring 25 points, just one off her ACC tournament career high.

After Friday's game, she told the media that the Tar Heels' backs were against the wall.

Sunday, she said she knew that North Carolina hadn't responded the way it needed to.

"I felt like we had to win the tournament to get a bid," Barksdale said with tears glistening in her eyes.

"I'm trying to be positive. But it's hard."

The women's season could continue -- they could receive a bid to the WNIT. But that wouldn't be enough.

Barksdale didn't want to talk about the possibility of playing in the WNIT, but Brown said she had mixed emotions about the team. Brown said it would probably be good for the younger Tar Heels to get more postseason play.

Even if the season goes on, it will be a disappointing one for Barksdale.

"This is the best chemistry I've ever had in four years," Barksdale said. "I really hate that we couldn't win more."

Rachel Carter can be reached at racarter@email.unc.edu.