CHAPEL HILL — Following N.C. State’s final three-point attempt with only seconds remaining, Wolfpack coach Kay Yow turned to the bench and put her head down in dismay, as her team lost to North Carolina for the second time this season.
The Tar Heel’s first game as the top ranked team in the country went as planned as the Heels (21-0, 7-0 ACC) held the No. 24 Pack (13-8, 3-5) to 0-for-14 shooting from behind the arc, en route to a 75-58 UNC win at Carmichael Auditorium Thursday night.
It was the first time all season in which State failed to convert from behind the arc in an entire game.
“I hate for us that none of our outside shots would fall,” Coach Kay Yow said. “I don’t know that we have ever missed every three-point shot that we took — I don’t think we have. So we really needed for a few of those to fall. Had they fallen, particularly at the right time, that would really help put us in the game.”
Billie McDowell, who scored nine points while shooting 0-for-6 from the three-point line, said State needed to resort to other options if the three wasn’t going in.
“I mean, I really don’t know what to say today,” McDowell said. “They just weren’t falling. Carolina was flying out, so the coaches told us to start faking and going to the hole, so that’s what we did.”
Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell said her team needed to stop State from getting good shots behind the three-point line.
“We were on them,” Hatchell said. “So they were getting some penetration, but I decided to keep the pressure on them because they are a team that when they get going on their three-point shots, they can beat anybody.”
Even without the three’s, State rallied from a nine point deficit to tie the game at 46-46 after two Ashley Key free throws with 13:15 remaining in the contest.
The tie game, however, was short-lived as the Heels responded with a 17-6 run that was capped off by an Ivory Latta three, ruining any chance for a Pack victory.
State was forced to play without Tiffany Stansbury, the team’s leading scorer and second leading rebounder, due to disciplinary reasons.
Yow said with Stansbury, State would have been able to allow Sasha Reid and other low post players to get more rest.
“Had [Stansbury] been here, both people could have been a little more fresh,” Yow said. “It would have given us a chance to give someone like Khadijah Whittington or Marquetta Dickens a little more rest.”
The Pack were out-rebounded 46-34 and gave up 17 offensive rebounds.
“We knew that rebounding would be a challenge,” Yow said. “We just couldn’t get the job done the way that we wanted to.”
Carolina center Erlana Larkins said her team focused on rebounding throughout the game.
“It was a big factor,” Larkins said. “We’ve been getting out-rebounded the past couple of games, and coach Hatchell said, ‘you guys better get your behinds on the board or else you are going to be running.'”
But even without Stansbury, Reid stepped in and posted a career high in points with 12, while tying a career high in rebounds with 10. It was her first ever double-double.
