Duke Drops North Carolina Lady Tar Heels In OT, 81-79

In the battle for the No. 3 seed in the ACC tournament, the North Carolina Lady Tar Heels went down in overtime Sunday afternoon, losing to the Duke Lady Blue Devils, 81-79.

The No. 9 Tar Heels (25-5, 10-4 ACC) trailed throughout most of the game, thanks to their carelessness with the ball, poor shot selection, and their inability to rebound effectively.

Neither team started the game sharply, with seven lead changes in the first nine minutes, largely due to ill-advised passes, traveling violations, and overall sloppy play.

Duke managed to pull away to a 33-23 lead with 3:20 left in the first half, taking an eight point lead into the locker room.

The No. 10 Lady Blue Devils scored only four points in the first 6:43 of the second half, partly as a result of Carolina’s improved defense, but mainly because they simply went cold from the field.

Duke’s near-drought enabled the Tar Heels to cut the lead to four at 44-40.

Over the next five minutes, the Heels outscored Duke, 16-10, to take the lead on a three-pointer by Italee Lucas.

With just over two minutes left in regulation the Tar Heels were up by six. Chante Black had fouled out for Duke, and it was starting to look as if North Carolina might pull out another one.

But it’s hard to win a game with turnovers and missed layups.

Duke (24-4, 11-3 ACC) came back to tie the game, thanks to their own sharp play and some Tar Heel miscues.

The Lady Blue Devils drew first blood in overtime on a Jasmine Thomas jumper, but Carolina tied the game again with some Italee Lucas free throws.

There were six lead changes in OT, with Carolina holding a one-point lead with 1:23 left to play.

Then Abby Waner-- one for 15 from the field at that point-- drained a three that seemed to take the wind out of the Heels’ sails for good.

With a 78-76 lead following Waner’s timely shot, the Blue Devils never trailed again.

A Rashanda McCants three for the Tar Heels with two seconds left was too little too late, as Duke held on for the 81-79 win.

North Carolina committed 33 turnovers and was out rebounded on the offensive glass, 32-15.

They played a sloppy and disconnected a game, and the only thing that saved them from a blowout was that Duke wasn’t much better.

The Blue Devils had problems of their own.

North Carolina shot 45.2 percent from the floor to Duke’s 34.5 percent.

The Heels made 45.7 percent of their three point attempts while Duke connected on 25 percent. That statistic alone represents a nine point advantage for Carolina.

Senior Rashanda McCants will finish out her college career having never won a game at Cameron, despite her 24 points on 10-for-17 shooting from the floor, including three of four three-point attempts.

Duke took the No. 3 seed in the ACC tournament with this win and will face the winner of Virginia-Virginia Tech on Friday, March 6 at 8 p.m.

North Carolina, as the No. 4 seed, will take on the winner of Thursday’s Georgia Tech-Clemson match-up, also on Friday, at 11 a.m.

With No. 1 seed Maryland playing some of the best women’s ball in the land, only two things are certain.

One is that these two Tobacco Road neighbors had better come to play in the tournament.

The second is that anything could happen.