Unexpected 16-point loss ends UNC women's basketball's four-game win streak

A season ago, Paris Kea scored 36 points in a home win against Duke. On Thursday, the North Carolina redshirt senior guard was out sick and the Tar Heels got a reality check. 

Down one of its biggest playmakers, the red-hot UNC women’s basketball team was brought back down to Earth with a humbling 85-69 loss to the Blue Devils at Carmichael Arena. 

The defeat to the Blue Devils snapped a four-game winning streak for the Tar Heels (14-10, 5-5 ACC), their longest in ACC play since the 2013-14 season. Wins against No. 1 Notre Dame, the defending national champion, and at No. 7 N.C. State have placed UNC firmly into the NCAA Tournament discussion, providing validation to head coach Sylvia Hatchell’s claims about how good this year’s Tar Heels can be. 

But against Duke, which entered the game just 2-7 in conference play, UNC was also reminded of how small its margin for error is. Even when completely healthy, only seven players usually see a considerable amount of playing time for the Tar Heels. With Kea, its second leading scorer, out of the picture, UNC was stretched even thinner and looked confused offensively for prolonged stretches. 

“Lets face it, Paris not being out there was huge,” said Hatchell, who didn’t find out she would be without Kea until “right before the game.” 

UNC’s woes went beyond not having Kea, though. The Tar Heels had no way of slowing down Duke’s offense, which was powered by redshirt junior guard Haley Gorecki. As a team, the Blue Devils shot 56.9 percent from the field and Gorecki went for 28 points after scoring 29 in her last trip to Carmichael Arena. 

"I think she likes playing over here,” Hatchell said. “I don’t know, she might come over here and play pickup games. A lot of the Duke kids do.” 

The Blue Devils also won the battle on the boards, out-rebounding UNC 42-30 and collecting 16 second-chance points to UNC’s 10. 

“That was the whole game,” UNC sophomore center Janelle Bailey said of the rebounding disparity. 

Yet, Kea’s absence was impossible to ignore. Offensively, Hatchell characterized her team as “out of sync,” and Bailey lamented a “lack of communication” between herself and her teammates. 

That much was evident during a disastrous second quarter for UNC. After starting off well, UNC led by as many as eight points but trailed by nine come halftime after being outscored 18-2 by Duke during the final 7:31 before the break in a stretch that defined the game. 

"As (Hatchell) said, we’re out of sync,” said Bailey, who scored a team-high 23 points. “I think that was the main issue and then one thing led to another. We put our heads down in the sand, then we couldn’t get it back out.”

The closest UNC came to the Blue Devils after halftime was five points. Each time UNC put pressure on the Blue Devils, they responded offensively, whether it be with Gorecki or her teammates, including junior forward Leaonna Odom (21 points, seven rebounds) and sophomore center Jade Williams (13 points, seven rebounds). 

Offensively, UNC found little success through options other than Bailey in the post. Redshirt junior guard Stephanie Watts certainly had the attention of Duke head coach Joanne McCallie going into the game, but the Blue Devils limited her to 11 points on 4 of 18 shooting from the field. 

“She has such WNBA range,” McCallie said of Watts. “I mean, she’s way out there, can be a threat at any time on the floor. Very proud of the team defense to identify her early before the catch.”

Now the question for UNC is how it will respond. A road trip to Clemson on Sunday makes for a quick turnaround and the way North Carolina reacts to an unexpected 16-point loss may say as much as its winning streak did. 

Bailey is ready to turn the page but made it clear she won’t forget what she perceived as a sign of disrespect from Duke, when the Blue Devils scored on two layups in the open floor with less than a minute remaining and the outcome decided. 

“I’ve never seen a team shoot twice with the clock running down,” Bailey said. “Whether you’re up – sometimes when you’re down they might still try to score – but we’ve just got to keep that in our mind.” 

For UNC, how the rest of February shakes out is of far more importance. But for Bailey at least, there’s something for her to think about before her team’s regular season finale at Cameron Indoor Stadium on March 3. 

@Brennan_Doherty

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