UNC women's basketball defeated Buckeyes to advance in NCAA Tournament

Coach Sylvia Hatchell would call it divine intervention, but Jamie Cherry has a penchant for buzzer beaters in late-game situations.

After Ohio State’s Kelsey Mitchell sunk both her free throws to knot the game — one the North Carolina women’s basketball team would eventually win 86-84 — with 5.1 seconds left, the freshman guard for the Tar Heels started to get in position. But not before senior Brittany Rountree gave her some advice.

“Brittany actually told me to just go out wide and catch the ball,” Cherry said. “So when I seen daylight, I seen no one in front of me. I knew that no one would stop me.”

After Cherry caught the ball and turned up court, two OSU defenders closed in. But by then, Cherry had already made it clear what her intentions were — she wasn’t going to be stopped. As the defenders inched closer, Cherry crossed the ball over to her left hand, splitting the two Buckeyes and giving her room to get off a shot just inside the 3-point line.

Up. In. Game.

Seventeen days earlier, she hit a buzzer-beater against Louisville in the ACC Tournament to send the game to overtime. This time, she lifted her team to a win over fifth-seeded Ohio State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Both times, Cherry had one thing on her mind.

“Every time Coach Hatchell puts me in the game with a little time on the clock, my mindset is to get down the court and get a great shot,” Cherry said. “I just wanted us to move onto the Sweet 16.”

What ended as a dramatic marathon started at a sprinter’s pace for UNC, who hit 46.6 percent of its shots in the first half.

The Tar Heels also held Mitchell, the nation’s leading scorer, to four points in the opening period. Rountree said it was the strength of the Tar Heel defense that caused the slump.

“One thing we wanted to do was to keep her in front of us, which I thought we did a really good job of,” she said.

UNC would go into halftime ahead by 18, but Hatchell knew OSU would not lay down quietly.

“I told them at halftime, ‘They’re not going to go away; they are gonna come after you,’” Hatchell said. “They did pretty much what I expected.”

Ohio State opened the second half with a fire that was absent during the game’s first 20 minutes. And by the time North Carolina could blink, the Buckeyes had cut the deficit to 10 with 6:25 remaining.

Ohio State would eventually tie the game on a Mitchell 3-pointer with 39 seconds left, but Latifah Coleman would hit a fading shot on the other end to regain the lead.

Mitchell was fouled on the Buckeyes’ next possession, setting the scene for Cherry’s wonder-shot after two made free throws.

“I still was nervous, I mean it’s a big shot,” she said. “Everyone dreams of hitting the shot.”

For Cherry, the dream was a reality. And for the Tar Heels, their dream of reaching a Final Four is still intact.

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