Defensive lapses lead to No. 13 UNC women's basketball's loss to Florida State at the buzzer

Florida State’s Sydney Bowles stood between her bench and the scorer’s table on the inbound play. She scanned the court behind first-year center Blanca Thomas. Even with Thomas’ 6-foot-5 frame blocking Bowles’ view, everyone knew where the ball was heading. 

FSU's Ta’Niya Latson, struggling to get open at the top of the key, eventually found separation from sophomore guard Reniya Kelly. Latson ran to the short corner where she received the ball with 3.5 seconds left in a tie game.

She was met by Kelly and junior guard Indya Nivar. They both went flying with Latson’s pump fake.

Then came Thomas and graduate forward Alyssa Ustby. They both missed the block attempt on Latson’s double-clutch hesitation. Latson’s layup fell through the net as the buzzer sounded and the red lights outlined the backboard. Latson ran the length of the court, tugging at her jersey and holding her hands to her ears. 

“I mean, honestly, we knew it was going to [Latson],” Kelly said. “We did everything we could just to get it out of her hands, but we didn’t make the adjustment in game-time. So she just made the shot.”

Latson’s game-winning buzzer-beater summed up UNC’s defensive struggles throughout the game. No. 13 North Carolina women’s basketball’s 86-84 defeat against Florida State marked UNC’s first loss to an unranked team this season after 16 straight wins. The Tar Heels — who have the top-ranked defense in the ACC — failed its defensive test on Sunday afternoon in Carmichael Arena against the Seminoles, who lead the conference in offense and rank No. 2 nationally in scoring. 

UNC — which was riding a five-game winning streak — did prevent Latson from taking a shot on FSU’s second-to-last possession. Like the final play, Bowles was in-bounding in the same spot and she got the ball to Latson. Both Ustby and graduate guard Lexi Donarski slid to the ball, but that left Bowles open on the wing for a 3-pointer. 

With the Seminoles now up 84-82, North Carolina went to Kelly, who cashed in on a midrange jumper, tying the game. But FSU had the final shot, and the Seminoles took advantage. 

“Games like this just come down to grit,” Ustby said. “And they had a little bit more than we did at the end.”

Even though Latson recorded 25 points — including 17 in the second half — North Carolina made the nation’s leading scorer get there on a less-than-efficient 10-22 shooting. The guard also committed three turnovers, with Kelly taking a charge on Latson and Thomas stuffing her down low repeatedly.  

It was obvious to head coach Courtney Banghart and the rest of her staff to key in on Latson — a four-time ACC Player of the Week this year — but they admittedly overlooked players in their scouting report like Bowles, who shot 6-9 from 3-point territory.

On average, the Tar Heels force over 12 turnovers per game.

On Sunday, they only forced seven. North Carolina scored just 5 points off those turnovers.

In comparison, UNC committed 11 turnovers. FSU turned those into 13 points. 

“I think they played a little bit down to the intensity and focus of the opponent, and so that showed,” Banghart said.

UNC has prided itself on defense this season, as they rank first in the ACC in opponent field goal percentage at 34 percent and second in opponent 3-point percentage at 26 percent.

But on Sunday, the Seminoles shot 40 percent from the floor and 45 percent from beyond the arc. 

From the get-go, the Seminoles played with an extremely accelerated pace, so it’s no surprise they came in averaging 92 points per game.

But, like redshirt junior guard Kayla McPherson said in the huddle after the game, it’s not the kind of loss you can just shake off. It cannot be chalked up to FSU's hot shooting. It wasn't just one bad play.

“It’s something where we need to take the lessons that we can from this game so it doesn’t happen again, because we don’t want to get in a position like this and be on this end of a loss ever again," Ustby said.