UNC women's basketball unable to handle Georgia Tech's pace in loss to Yellow Jackets

The Tar Heels couldn't keep up. 

Georgia Tech guard Dani Carnegie let the ball fly at the tip of the UNC logo with under four minutes remaining in the first quarter. Just like that, the Yellow Jackets took their first lead of the game, 15-14. 

A minute later, GT's Tonie Morgan intercepted UNC senior center Maria Gakdeng's pass outside the arc. Morgan raced across the wide open floor to the right side, making a fast-break layup. North Carolina's early 7-0 lead was already a distant memory. 

The Tar Heels were out of breath. They couldn't match the pace set by Georgia Tech. 

“We just didn’t match their toughness,” junior guard Indya Nivar said. “They got us into rotation rebounds, and then we weren’t finding our man quick enough or being tough enough to pursue the ball.”

No. 14 North Carolina fell to No. 25 Georgia Tech, 82-76, on Sunday afternoon's ACC opener in Carmichael Arena. In the first three quarters, the Yellow Jackets dominated the fast break and the glass to hand UNC its second top-25 loss of the season. Georgia Tech out-rebounded the Tar Heels 23-10 in the first half, helping create a hole too large to crawl out of for the Tar Heels. 

“It was hard to contain,” Gakdeng said. “They had some good guards that were getting in the paint, winning in the paint for them. When they kicked the ball out and they had the shots, the rotation rebound wasn’t there. We kind of gave up boards there.”

As a byproduct of Georgia Tech’s pace and aggression, North Carolina struggled to contain the Yellow Jackets on the defensive end. Georgia Tech recorded a 52 percent field goal percentage. It's the highest opponent field goal percentage the Tar Heels have given up all season. 

“Some of those [shots] were really contested, and they made a lot of really contested shots,” head coach Courtney Banghart said. “Others we didn’t have the right coverage, or we didn’t defend it well enough.”

Nivar remarked that the lack of communication on the weak side and inability to contain their matchup on-ball were the most striking issues from the guard position. At the break, the Tar Heels had given up 50 points, surpassing their opponent's final point total in five of their 12 games this season. 

“We knew that they were going to be aggressive on offense, but our defense, I don’t think we played tough enough,” Gakdeng said. “I think that they kind of played to our weaknesses and they had a great game. They shot the ball well. They got whatever they wanted.”

North Carolina made it a point to amp up their intensity on both ends of the court in the fourth quarter. The Tar Heels held the Yellow Jackets to zero 3-pointers on three attempts in the last ten minutes of play, and out-rebounded GT 8-5.

But it was too late. 

“Sometimes honestly the scoreboard teaches you,” Banghart said. “I think these guys know that they came up short and it wasn’t because of any one thing, it was a few different things on both ends of the ball.”

@alexdjones_

@dthsports | sports@dailytarheel.com