University of North Carolina Athletics
GoHeels Exclusive: Wow Moment
January 28, 2019 | Women's Basketball, Featured Writers
By Pat James, GoHeels.com
In the days leading up to Sunday's game against top-ranked Notre Dame, the first defending NCAA champion to visit Carmichael Arena in eight years, Sylvia Hatchell challenged her team to produce a "wow moment."
But how does one define such a thing?
North Carolina's players and coaches discussed different examples of "wow moments" as they prepared for the Fighting Irish. Another was presented in the locker room just before tipoff, when Hatchell shared an ultrasound photo of her unborn grandson and announced she's a grandma-to-be. Through that and everything else, the Hall of Fame coach pointed out a common theme.
"When you have a 'wow moment,'" Hatchell said, "it's usually preceded by fear but followed by joy."
Yet, aware of how significant a win over Notre Dame would be, the Tar Heels took the floor Sunday focused solely on the latter and played fearlessly. And ultimately, they delivered the "wow moment" that Hatchell wanted.
Behind Paris Kea's season highs of 30 points and 10 assists, UNC upended the Fighting Irish 78-73. The win marked Carolina's third all-time against a No. 1-ranked team and its first since beating Duke in February 2006. According to ESPN, the victory also snapped a 198-game winning streak by top-ranked teams against unranked teams.
"We weren't afraid of them," said Hatchell, who improved to 4-3 in her last seven games against defending NCAA champions. "We respect them; there's no doubt about that. But I thought the kids were really fired up and ready to play."
It showed from the start.
Coming off a win at Virginia Tech on Thursday, the Tar Heels (12-9, 3-4 ACC) traded leads with Notre Dame (19-2, 6-1) throughout Sunday's first half. They eventually entered the break down by two. But that was still a positive, especially since the Fighting Irish had held double-digit halftime leads in each of their previous five games against unranked ACC opponents.
On the other hand, Notre Dame had rallied from a three-point halftime deficit to win at Tennessee on Thursday, outscoring the Lady Vols 24-12 in the third quarter. It couldn't mount a similar third-quarter surge against UNC, though, largely because of Kea.
Carolina outscored the Fighting Irish 28-17 in the third period, paced by Kea's 19 points. Eight of those came in a span of 54 seconds, highlighted by a 4-point play. She also made a jumper just before the buzzer to hand the Tar Heels a 62-53 lead entering the fourth quarter.
A year ago, Kea scored a career-high 36 points in leading UNC to a come-from-behind win over No. 15 Duke. But Sunday's performance might've surpassed that, as she continued her success against top-notch competition.
"I love a challenge," said Kea, whose six career 30-point games are tied with Pam Leake (1983-86) for the second most in school history. "That's all I can really say about it."
Still, despite Kea's third-quarter barrage, Notre Dame refused to go away.
After Carolina went up by 10 points early in the fourth quarter, the Fighting Irish responded with a 12-0 run to recapture the lead. The Tar Heels then found themselves in a similar situation to what they'd been in against now-ranked No. 4 Louisville and No. 22 Florida State, which defeated them by a combined eight points earlier this month. Only this time, they were prepared.
UNC scored six straight points to go up by four. Then when Notre Dame tied the score at 71 with 1:48 left, Leah Church drilled a 3-pointer, her only field goal of the game, to give Carolina a lead it wouldn't relinquish.
"We didn't come into this game nervous," said Stephanie Watts, who scored 19 points and helped limit Arike Ogunbowale, the Fighting Irish's leading scorer, to 13 points on 5-for-21 shooting. "We're a good team. We're a better team than what our record shows. We knew this was going to be a tough competitive game, and we were going to play it out to the end."Â
So, even when Kea made a free throw with six seconds left, pushing UNC's lead to a seemingly insurmountable five points, the Tar Heels held off celebrating, at least as much as they could. But after Ogunbowale's desperation 3-pointer ricocheted off the backboard and into Janelle Bailey's grasp, nothing but joy followed.Â
As the buzzer sounded and the crowd of 4,704 fans erupted, Bailey spiked the ball. She then charged toward midcourt, where she disappeared into a mosh pit with her teammates. The celebration continued from there into the Carolina locker room – and it'll likely be remembered for many years to come.
"I'm just really happy for these guys," Hatchell said, "because they without a doubt had a 'wow moment' today."
In the days leading up to Sunday's game against top-ranked Notre Dame, the first defending NCAA champion to visit Carmichael Arena in eight years, Sylvia Hatchell challenged her team to produce a "wow moment."
But how does one define such a thing?
North Carolina's players and coaches discussed different examples of "wow moments" as they prepared for the Fighting Irish. Another was presented in the locker room just before tipoff, when Hatchell shared an ultrasound photo of her unborn grandson and announced she's a grandma-to-be. Through that and everything else, the Hall of Fame coach pointed out a common theme.
"When you have a 'wow moment,'" Hatchell said, "it's usually preceded by fear but followed by joy."
Yet, aware of how significant a win over Notre Dame would be, the Tar Heels took the floor Sunday focused solely on the latter and played fearlessly. And ultimately, they delivered the "wow moment" that Hatchell wanted.
Behind Paris Kea's season highs of 30 points and 10 assists, UNC upended the Fighting Irish 78-73. The win marked Carolina's third all-time against a No. 1-ranked team and its first since beating Duke in February 2006. According to ESPN, the victory also snapped a 198-game winning streak by top-ranked teams against unranked teams.
"We weren't afraid of them," said Hatchell, who improved to 4-3 in her last seven games against defending NCAA champions. "We respect them; there's no doubt about that. But I thought the kids were really fired up and ready to play."
It showed from the start.
Coming off a win at Virginia Tech on Thursday, the Tar Heels (12-9, 3-4 ACC) traded leads with Notre Dame (19-2, 6-1) throughout Sunday's first half. They eventually entered the break down by two. But that was still a positive, especially since the Fighting Irish had held double-digit halftime leads in each of their previous five games against unranked ACC opponents.
On the other hand, Notre Dame had rallied from a three-point halftime deficit to win at Tennessee on Thursday, outscoring the Lady Vols 24-12 in the third quarter. It couldn't mount a similar third-quarter surge against UNC, though, largely because of Kea.
Carolina outscored the Fighting Irish 28-17 in the third period, paced by Kea's 19 points. Eight of those came in a span of 54 seconds, highlighted by a 4-point play. She also made a jumper just before the buzzer to hand the Tar Heels a 62-53 lead entering the fourth quarter.
A year ago, Kea scored a career-high 36 points in leading UNC to a come-from-behind win over No. 15 Duke. But Sunday's performance might've surpassed that, as she continued her success against top-notch competition.
"I love a challenge," said Kea, whose six career 30-point games are tied with Pam Leake (1983-86) for the second most in school history. "That's all I can really say about it."
Still, despite Kea's third-quarter barrage, Notre Dame refused to go away.
After Carolina went up by 10 points early in the fourth quarter, the Fighting Irish responded with a 12-0 run to recapture the lead. The Tar Heels then found themselves in a similar situation to what they'd been in against now-ranked No. 4 Louisville and No. 22 Florida State, which defeated them by a combined eight points earlier this month. Only this time, they were prepared.
UNC scored six straight points to go up by four. Then when Notre Dame tied the score at 71 with 1:48 left, Leah Church drilled a 3-pointer, her only field goal of the game, to give Carolina a lead it wouldn't relinquish.
"We didn't come into this game nervous," said Stephanie Watts, who scored 19 points and helped limit Arike Ogunbowale, the Fighting Irish's leading scorer, to 13 points on 5-for-21 shooting. "We're a good team. We're a better team than what our record shows. We knew this was going to be a tough competitive game, and we were going to play it out to the end."Â
So, even when Kea made a free throw with six seconds left, pushing UNC's lead to a seemingly insurmountable five points, the Tar Heels held off celebrating, at least as much as they could. But after Ogunbowale's desperation 3-pointer ricocheted off the backboard and into Janelle Bailey's grasp, nothing but joy followed.Â
As the buzzer sounded and the crowd of 4,704 fans erupted, Bailey spiked the ball. She then charged toward midcourt, where she disappeared into a mosh pit with her teammates. The celebration continued from there into the Carolina locker room – and it'll likely be remembered for many years to come.
"I'm just really happy for these guys," Hatchell said, "because they without a doubt had a 'wow moment' today."
Players Mentioned
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