Tar Heels succumb to late-season stinger

The No. 13 North Carolina women’s basketball team is wondering what has gone wrong as they head toward the end of the season on a slide.

Thursday night at home, the Tar Heels lost their third straight game, 64-57 to Georgia Tech.

Regardless of the outcome of Sunday’s ACC finale against Duke, the Tar Heels now can finish no higher than fifth in the ACC standings. That means they will have to play on the first day of the conference tournament, which begins on Thursday.

Senior guard Italee Lucas said she went into the game thinking it was a must-win and doesn’t know what has caused the three-game skid.

Lucas and Chay Shegog led the Tar Heels with 13 points each but it wasn’t enough to win what was an extremely close game until the final minutes.

The Tar Heels started the game strong, but Georgia Tech’s full court press and double-team pressure zone in the halfcourt gave UNC trouble from the start. The pressure also gave the Yellows Jackets in the game early.

That’s when Georgia Tech center Sasha Goodlett, who scored all 13 of her points in the second half, made a tough layup and drew a foul from UNC’s Jessica Breland.

Goodlett then made the free throw and Georgia Tech never lost the lead the rest of the game.

UNC kept it close toward the end but Goodlett’s big second half in the post and Alex Montgomery’s 22 points proved to be too much.

“She started crashing the boards more and they started slipping her on screens,” UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell said. “They got a lot of points off of offensive rebounds.”

This marks the Tar Heels’ third straight loss not only on the season, but also to Georgia Tech.

“When I took the job eight years ago I started thinking I want my program to look like North Carolina,” Georgia Tech coach MaChelle Joseph said. “To be able to not only compete with North Carolina but to have three wins in a row against them is something I’m very proud of.”

The Tar Heels are now left scrambling for answers as to what has gone wrong. Despite the losing streak, Shegog knows this group has what it takes to make the necessary amendments before the postseason.

“I’m more confident than I’ve been in the past because we don’t have a lot of underclassmen,” Shegog said. “The majority of the team has been through what we’re going through now so it’s nothing new for any of the players.”

Hatchell had a possible solution for getting the team on track — getting Breland back to form. The senior forward had just four points Thursday night and Hatchell believes she is the key to the team’s success down the stretch.

“We’ve got to get Jessica playing better,” Hatchell said. “She’s not playing very well, offense, defense, everything.”

But Hatchell knows all is not lost and Breland and the rest of the team can get right in time for the postseason.

“The last game is Sunday, then the ACC Tournament is like a new season.”

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