White’s best effort falls short

RALEIGH — Standing at just 5-foot-5, junior She’la White is the smallest player on the North Carolina women’s basketball team.

But Monday night against N.C. State, she was the biggest Tar Heel at Reynolds Coliseum.

In a night of miserable shooting for UNC, North Carolina fell to the Wolfpack 88-72. While the rest of the Tar Heels struggled to put points on the board, White’s career-high and team-leading 20 game points was a highlight amidst the disappointment.

“Thank goodness she was making her shots,” UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell said. “She was about the only one that had a decent shooting percentage. And overall she’s been shooting the ball pretty good, especially the last few games. And we need her to do that.”

Though it’s not the first time she has posted double digits for the Tar Heels, White has been used to inconsistent scoring. White led the Tar Heels with 14 points against Virginia last month, but scored a total of zero points in the next three games before posting a 12-point performance against Clemson.

And in typical fashion, White’s performance against N.C. State was out of the blue.

She averaged just a little more than five points per game coming into Monday’s matchup. Against the Wolfpack, White had a career-high five 3-pointers.

White led the Tar Heels at halftime with 10 points. Eager to fix her team’s shooting problems, Hatchell knew who she needed on the court in the second half.

And in the second half, White was equally as hot, proving in a commanding fashion she deserved her spot on the floor. She played 26 minutes, which was second-most on the team behind senior point guard Cetera DeGraffenreid.

Scoring a pair of 3-pointers in just more than a minute, White helped the Tar Heels climb back from a 12-point halftime deficit to tie the score at 52.

Any UNC basket would have given the Tar Heels their first lead of the second-half on the next possession.

But long range shooting had worked in White’s favor all game long. So when the ball was put in her hands, she gave it another go.

With a chance to take the lead, White’s tiny frame sprung from the floor, her toes hovering over the white arc. As the ball swished through the net, she fell back and slid down the court.

White shot 7-for-9 from the floor and 5-for-7 from behind the arc. But her jaw-dropping precision was not enough to stop a late Wolfpack rally that allowed UNC to holds its lead for just more than two minutes.

For tiny White, leading the Tar Heels was a tall order, especially from the bench. Though the Virginia native had the performance of her life, she wasn’t exactly in a place to be proud.

On a night where she lit up the Wolfpack-red floor, White had won. But her team wasn’t so lucky.

“I want to win,” White said. “It doesn’t matter if I have a career high or not. If I had zero points and we win, I’d be happy with that.”

Contact the Sports Editor

at sports@dailytarheel.com.