What you missed in sports during the break

The stage for what many deem the nation’s fiercest rivalry was set.

The 9,314 raucous fans in Cameron Indoor Stadium had found their seats for the No. 14 North Carolina men’s basketball team’s trip to No. 4 Duke, ESPN was ready for its College Game Day proceedings and tip off was set for 9 p.m.

But just an hour and a half earlier a few channels away on ESPNU, the two institutions had just embarked on the beginning of a different showdown for 8,169 just-as-animated fans.

Saturday, March 8, the two schools’ women’s basketball teams met in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament, the final outcome still undecided with 10 seconds strung across the top of the scoreboard.

Freshman Diamond DeShields, the ACC Rookie of the Year, launched the 3-pointer that would’ve tied the game, that would’ve erased UNC’s early eight-point deficit.

And then it rimmed out.

Just seconds later, her team lost 66-61 loss to the Blue Devils.

After UNC swept Duke in the regular season for the first time since the 2007-08 season, it was that same Blue Devils team that closed the book on UNC’s hopes of making the title game, which Notre Dame won.

But as DeShields’ shot rattled in before plopping back out and sealing UNC’s fate, associate head coach Andrew Calder had no regrets in regards to his team’s final play.

The ball was going to DeShields — a different option just didn’t seem right.

“I said to her, ‘Take the shot,’’’ Calder said.

“She’s won us a lot of basketball games and in the end, she’s going to have the basketball in her hands. She can shoot it or pass it, but she’s going to have the basketball in her hands. That’s my loyalty to her.”

DeShields netted 25 points, while fellow freshmen Allisha Gray and Stephanie Mavunga chipped in 14 and 13, respectively.

Mavunga also hauled in nine rebounds.

But when the final buzzer sounded and the Blue Devils began to celebrate, UNC’s rally-from-behind effort just wasn’t enough.

“Duke does a lot of things well,” said a dejected DeShields after the game.

“Honestly, they did them well the past two times we played them.”

But this time for the Blue Devils, the third try was just the charm.

Softball

There was a time when the bleak of February settled in and the days drew colder, when the losses for the North Carolina softball team seemed to build on each other, each one more defeating than the last.

But as March opened and spring break approached, the team found a way to regroup, began to find a way to win.

And now, at the culmination of spring break, UNC has won five of its last seven.

UNC defeated Syracuse three times in two days, featuring a double header March 8 and a final series game on the ninth. In each of the doubleheader games, the Tar Heels scored nine runs. The next day, they put up 13, sending the Orange back to New York with another four-run performance and another loss.

A 9-3 loss to Campbell and a 3-0 loss to Coastal Carolina were the only two blemishes on UNC’s spring break record. Saturday, UNC defeated Pittsburgh 9-0 and 8-7 before the series’ finale was canceled for Sunday.

“(Senior pitcher) Lori Spingola had a really gutsy performance (Saturday) and I’m really proud of how the team came out and performed today,” coach Donna Papa told GoHeels.com after the wins.

“In the first game, we just went right at them, hitting a few home runs and knocking their pitcher out of the game after the first inning. Game two was a different game … I was really proud of how we fought and came back.”

Baseball

Eight games, eight days, six wins.

UNC kicked off spring break with two wins against Pittsburgh on March 8. Pittsburgh won the final game of the series 6-4, but UNC bounced back with a 13-3 rout of George Mason two days later. Another win, this time against Gardner-Webb, set the stage for the series in Maryland, where UNC took two of three.

sports@dailytarheel.com