Gray scored 16 points in 15 minutes in UNC women's basketball game

Before each North Carolina women’s basketball home game, a video plays showing a train obliterating the opposing team’s logo. Usually it’s dismissed as part of the pregame bravado, no different than spotlights or pulsing music.

This time though, it proved prophetic.

The No. 17 Tar Heels eviscerated Wake Forest 83-45 on Thursday night, pushing them to 21-6 overall and 8-5 in the ACC. Sophomore guard Allisha Gray led UNC with 16 points despite only playing 15 minutes because of the flu.

“I told her at halftime, ‘You’re pulling a Michael Jordan,’” Coach Sylvia Hatchell said.

Wake Forest scored the first basket of the game, but that was the only time it had a chance at breaking its 18-game road losing streak to UNC. Then Gray went to work.

She snared three offensive rebounds, two of which she put back into the basket. After subbing out for a short bit, she re-entered the game and immediately sank a baseline jumper. The next possession, she drained a 3-pointer that gave UNC a 19-7 lead. By halftime, she had 14 points and a team-high four rebounds in only 10 minutes of work.

“We were really worried about her coming in because she’s a really good shooter, and she’s so strong she can take you off the dribble as well,” Wake Forest coach Jen Hoover said.

Despite the heroics from Gray, Wake Forest clung to hope through much of the first half, trimming the lead to nine points midway through. The score was 24-14 with 8:20 to go when the Tar Heels crushed whatever hope remained.

Wake Forest succeeded with its size in limiting sophomore forward Stephanie Mavunga to nine points and four rebounds. But UNC’s guards had a lot of success in the first half with slashing into the paint and either scoring or passing it out to open players who knocked down their shots. Five Tar Heels finished in double digits, with two others at nine points.

This, combined with 17 Wake Forest turnovers in the first half, gave UNC a 30-20 advantage in shots attempted and 43-23 halftime lead. The trend continued in the second half, as Wake Forest never gave itself a chance, commiting a staggering 34 turnovers.

Junior guard N’Dea Bryant, who finished with 12 points, spearheaded a smothering UNC defensive effort. She held Wake Forest senior forward Dearica Hamby to only seven points with seven turnovers, the first time since January 2013 that Hamby was limited to single-digit scoring in back-to-back games.

“(I was) just trying to stay in front of her, not letting her body me up,” Bryant said. “Moving my feet a lot, because she’s definitely bigger than me.”

By the end of the game, the Tar Heels had fulfilled the prophecy of the train in the pregame video. But perhaps the prophecy wasn’t referring to UNC, but a flu-ridden Gray who could score 16 points in 15 minutes — and what she could do if she was healthy.

“When she’s healthy and plays hard, she can do anything she wants,” Hatchell said.

Just like a runaway train.

sports@dailytarheel.com