Early in the third quarter of UNC women’s basketball’s 78-73 win over Notre Dame on Sunday, graduate guard Stephanie Watts went down near midcourt, rolling her ankle before limping into the locker room.
A few minutes later, Watts checked back into the game. And the Tar Heels were thrilled that she did, because Watts had what can only be described as a career game — scoring a season-high 25 points on 8-15 shooting as well as 12 rebounds and a career-high nine assists. One more assist would have gotten her the first triple-double in the history of the program.
And frankly, the Tar Heels needed her every step of the way.
“I just knew my team needed me to come out with energy,” Watts said. “Like I say, every time I just try to bring energy every single day, bring that consistently. And I think when you do that, good things happen.”
Up until last week’s loss to Syracuse, Watts had been relatively absent from box scores, making only six shots in the previous six games up to then.
Though she played well against the Orange, scoring 15 points, Sunday's game showed off the vintage Watts: one who could spend 35 minutes on the floor — a season-high — and wasn’t afraid of taking shots, with her 15 attempts tying a season-high and her 4-9 3-point shooting marking season-highs in both attempts and makes.
So, is Stephanie Watts back?
“Honestly, with the way she played against Syracuse, she’s back,” UNC head coach Courtney Banghart said. “She’s not going to make them all, but she impacts the game on so many levels and she’s an older guy, so we need her to use her experience here through the stretch.”
The end of Watts’ backslide coincides with the end of a poor run of play for the Tar Heels as a whole after losing their last three ACC games by 10 points or more. Of course, Watts didn’t end the losing streak single-handedly.
