Last-second miss ends UNC's season

GREENSBORO — It all came down to one shot.

Down by two with three seconds left to play, the North Carolina women’s basketball team only had time for one final attempt. Needing a miracle, the team turned to the same person it had all season, the person whose most recent buzzer-beater pushed the Tar Heels into this game in the first place — freshman guard Jamie Cherry.

When she caught the inbounds pass, there was an expectation. When nobody set a screen, there still was a chance. Even as she tumbled, flipping over herself and skidding across the court of the Greensboro Coliseum, there was still hope that somehow her last-second heave could spare UNC from a 67-65 loss to South Carolina in the third round of the NCAA Tournament.

But it never came close.

“Man, if only I would’ve hit the shot,” Cherry said. “I wanted us to be celebrating like we did at Ohio State, so it just killed me that I didn’t make it and I realized we were going home.”

So there she laid, just inside the 3-point line, crimson and white jerseys dancing behind her. Cherry’s miss meant the game — and UNC’s season — was over.

“You don't have to, I guess, move to the Elite 8 to be champions, and these kids are champions, because there's a lot of people that didn't even give us a chance,” Coach Sylvia Hatchell said. “I read some articles saying that South Carolina, just go ahead and take today off because it was in the bag.

“But you know, these kids fought hard.”

And for the first 39 minutes of the game, that effort paid off. Despite conceding 17 free throw attempts in the first half, UNC only trailed by four at the break. South Carolina forward A’ja Wilson — the No. 1 recruit in the 2014 class — finished the game with just four points, despite averaging over 13 so far this season.

But with 1:01 left to play, Gamecock guard Olivia Gaines shot a 3-pointer from the corner that changed the course of the game. The shot ricocheted off the backboard, the front of the rim and the back of the rim before finally dropping through the netting — tie game, 63 apiece.

The Tar Heels never retook the lead.

“It's not every day that everyone gets a shot that's going to bounce around and come in,” said sophomore forward Stephanie Mavunga, who fouled out 15 seconds after Gaines’ basket.

Still, UNC didn’t give up.

Jessica Washington made a driving layup with 28 seconds left to make it 65 all. It wasn’t until SEC Player of the Year Tiffany Mitchell scored with 4.2 seconds left that the Gamecocks appeared poised to advance.

So Hatchell took her final timeout with three seconds left, knowing full well her team only had one chance to win the game — it all came down to the last shot.

“Usually you have like one dribble for every second, and so we were going to go for the win, not the tie. I wanted to go for a three,” Hatchell said. “You know, you gamble — sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.”

When the final whistle blew and the horn sounded, Hatchell looked for a foul call and then walked off the court. The 2013-14 Sweet 16 rematch — UNC knocked South Carolina out of the NCAA Tournament in this exact game in 2014 — was finally over.

There would be no deja vu.

sports@dailytarheel.com