The Daily Tar Heel
Printing news. Raising hell. Since 1893.
Friday, May 16, 2025 Newsletters Latest print issue

We keep you informed.

Help us keep going. Donate Today.
The Daily Tar Heel

Fatigue down the final stretch results in No. 8 UNC women's basketball's loss to UVA

20250105_Ruesch_sports-womens-basketball-notre-dame-7.jpg
UNC senior forward/center Maria Gakdeng (5) reacts to a foul being called during the women’s basketball game against Notre Dame on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025 at Carmichael Arena. UNC lost 76-67.

Graduate guard Lexi Donarski heaved a 3-pointer with two Virginia defenders closing out her shot. The ball missed, hitting high off the glass. 

The Cavaliers ran to the other end of the court. They jumped up and down, screaming as a team, while the defeated Tar Heels dispiritedly high-fived one another.

Junior guard Indya Nivar put her hands on her head and made her way through the handshake line. 

“We ran out of gas,” head coach Courtney Banghart said. “I thought we just really couldn’t get out of playing tired in that second half.”

On what was supposed to be a celebratory Senior Day for North Carolina, the No. 8 Tar Heels fell to Virginia, 78-75, in their last game of the regular season. Undermanned UNC led by as many as 18 points in Carmichael Arena on Sunday afternoon, but failed to string together productive possessions down the final stretch. As a result, North Carolina was outscored by seven in the fourth quarter and 48-34 in the second half. 

North Carolina clung to an eight-point advantage with five minutes to go in the game.

Then things started to fall apart. 

In those final few minutes, the Tar Heels committed four turnovers and converted on only 2-of-5 shots from the field. These careless plays opened the door for the Cavaliers, who stepped to the free-throw line with 27 seconds left and took their first lead of the game since it was 4-3.

Nivar then ripped her way through defenders to the basket on the other end, pushing UNC ahead, 75-74. But another foul against North Carolina sent Virginia back to the charity stripe. The Cavaliers took back the lead.

Virginia blocked Nivar as she tried for another layup on the next possession and there were the Cavaliers, back at the line, where they connected on the last two points of the afternoon.

“We were fatigued today,” Banghart said. “And that’s on us. [We] weren’t able to make shots fatigued.”

Fatigue has plagued the Tar Heels over the past few games in the absence of graduate forward Alyssa Ustby and sophomore guard Reniya Kelly

UNC has gone 3-2 without Ustby and 0-2 without both Ustby and Kelly in the last few games to close out the season. The pair of starters are two of North Carolina’s four leading scorers, but they also fill other roles. 

“That’s not only experience,” Banghart said. “It’s offense, it’s toughness, it’s minutes. It’s a lot of things.”

Banghart confirmed that Ustby and Kelly are practicing with the team now. She did not speak on their statuses heading into the ACC tournament next week. 

Without these two impact players, UNC shot less than 21 percent from 3-point range. North Carolina looked to senior center Maria Gakdeng on the inside, after struggling from deep.

Gakdeng finished the game with a career-high 25 points, going 9-10 from the field and 7-8 from the free-throw line. She also added nine rebounds, five assists and two steals. Five of those rebounds came off the offensive glass, a category North Carolina dominated, 13-3. 

However, the problems began to arise late, as Gakdeng's last shot came with 6:48 remaining in the game.

Virginia started to double and triple-team Gakdeng down the stretch to take away baskets in the paint. In response, UNC turned to the perimeter for shots. 

“They were really physical with her and pushing her way off the block and really helping and daring us to make threes from the perimeter,” Banghart said. “We took them and didn’t make them.”

Despite Gakdeng’s peak performance, her efforts alone were not enough for the Tar Heels to overcome the 16-14 Cavaliers. 

To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.

UNC ran out of gas, spoiling the Senior Day festivities and marking the first home loss to Virginia since the 2000-01 season. It's a loss that hands UNC the fifth overall seed in the ACC tournament.

And without a double bye in next week's tournament, UNC will have less time to get healthy, less time to recover from the last stretch of games, before battling for a championship trophy.  

@meganosmithh

@dthsports | sports@dailytarheel.com