University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
New Hampshire
Cherry Scores 20, Heels Top UNH
December 29, 2015 | Women's Basketball
Cherry salted the game away with two free throws with five seconds left to give North Carolina (9-5) its third-consecutive victory and fourth in the last five games.
Destinee Walker chipped in with 17 points, and rookie classmate Stephanie Watts, the reigning ACC Rookie of the Week, had 11 points before fouling out late in the fourth quarter.
Elizabeth Belanger scored a career-high 28 points for New Hampshire (6-6), and none were bigger than the back-to-back three pointers that first tied the game at 53-all and later sent the Wildcats in the lead, 56-53, for the first time since the opening minutes of the game.
But the Wildcats were unable to seize the moment. UNH missed its next nine shots after taking the lead with 6:24 to play. Carolina ran off a 10-0 spurt with Walker putting the Heels in the lead for good with an old-fashioned three-point play.
Belanger got UNH within 63-60, but Cherry was fouled on the inbounds pass and made both free throws to give Carolina the win.
Foul trouble plagued Carolina most of the game, and that allowed UNH to claw back in the game by shooting 86.7 percent (26-of-30) from the charity stripe.
UNH mustered the first four points of the game, but went scoreless the last seven minutes, three seconds of the first quarter. Carolina answered with the final 14 points in the quarter to lead 14-4. The four points by the Wildcats marked the fewest allowed by the Tar Heels in any quarter this season.
Cherry drained Carolina's only three-pointer of the first half for a 25-11 lead midway through the second quarter. The sophomore from Cove City, N.C., had 11 first-half points sending UNC to a 34-23 lead at halftime.
