UNC women fall to Duke in ACC finals

GREENSBORO – After playing four games in four days, the UNC women’s basketball team simply didn’t have enough left in the tank down the stretch against Duke, losing 81-66 in the ACC Tournament championship game.

The Tar Heels (25-8), who came into the ACC Tournament as the No. 6 seed, struggled in the second half against a much fresher Duke team. The Blue Devils (29-3) took advantage of the UNC tired defense, hitting six of 15 3-pointers.

In the end, it was UNC’s inability to convert several easy buckets in the second half that ended the Tar Heels’ tournament run.

“Its not the end of the world,” UNC head coach Sylvia Hatchell said. “I told the kids you guys played really hard for four days. You had a lot more energy in your legs than I really expected you to have.”

In a game that featured 12 ties and nine lead changes, UNC couldn’t keep up with the Blue Devils down the stretch. After UNC took a 54-53 lead with 9:28 left in the second half, Duke answered with 15-0 run, ending the Tar Heels’ title hopes.

“I thought today we missed some shots that we normally would make, a lot of them around the basket,” Hatchell said. “I’ve never been one to make excuse for a lot of things. Maybe if they were a little fresher, we might have been able to pull it out and make some of those shots around the basket.”

After UNC shot 50 percent in the first half, Duke put the clamps on UNC’s offense, starting with senior point guard Cetera DeGraffenreid. She caused defenses fits throughout the tournament with her impressive speed and court vision, but Duke was able to wrangle the speedy guard and hold her to just four points and four assists.

“I thought Cetera did a great job the last four days leading our team and running the show out there for us, getting the ball to the right people,” Hatchell said. “Its hard to play four days in a row like that but we put ourselves in that position.”

Redshirt senior Jessica Breland scored a game-high 27 points on 11-for-19 shooting. Tournament MVP Jasmine Thomas paced the Blue Devils with 21 points.

After the game, Hatchell made her team sit and watch Duke’s postgame celebration. As the balloons and confetti covered the Greensboro Coliseum, UNC remained on the bench for the entirety of the trophy ceremony.

“I wanted our kids to experience what happens when you win the ACC Championship,” Hatchell said. “When you experience that, maybe it motivates you a little bit more in the offseason to get in the gym extra to shoot and work hard in the weight room and do all those things because you want to have that experience.”

With only one game remaining in the season, UNC now turns its focus to the NCAA Tournament. After four straight losses to end the regular season, the Tar Heels have plenty of reason to feel good as win or go home season begins.

“We definitely got out swag back the last four days,” said senior Italee Lucas, who scored 11 points. “We played hard throughout the whole tournament. This is just more motivation for the NCAAs.”