Sunday, February 9
Chapel Hill, N.C.
2 PM
North Carolina
16-8,7-6ACC
63
vs
72
Virginia Tech
17-6,7-5ACC
1
2
3
4
F
Virginia Tech
17
17
16
22
72
North Carolina
15
16
16
16
63
Tar Heels Fall To Virginia Tech, 72-63
February 9, 2020 | Women's Basketball
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – UNC's bounce-back will have to wait another game. The Tar Heel women's basketball team, looking to rebound from a loss at Duke on Thursday, fell 72-63 to Virginia Tech Sunday afternoon at Carmichael Arena. The team's first back-to-back losses of the season dropped Carolina's record to 16-8 overall and 7-6 in Atlantic Coast Conference play.
"Hats off to Virginia Tech," UNC coach Courtney Banghart said. "That's a really good team. We knew it would be a tough battle – they've got speed and length at every position and played like it.
"They had 12 offensive rebounds at halftime, and that's inexcusable. I thought our kids really did a good job in the second half securing the glass. I thought (UNC) did a good job of controlling what they could control. We didn't shoot it well – if you look at our statistics, clearly that was a shooting nightmare – but they played hard enough through a ton of adversity to give themselves a chance."
The Tar Heels are back in action at home on Thursday, hosting Syracuse for a 7 p.m. game.
UNC senior Taylor Koenen led all scorers with 19 points and also had the game's top rebounding day with 10 boards for her third double-double of the season. Senior Shayla Bennett scored 14 and junior Janelle Bailey had 13. Freshman Malu Tshitenge contributed eight points and eight rebounds.
Dara Mabrey led three Virginia Tech scorers in double figures with 18 points, including a 12-for-12 performance from the free throw line.
UNC shot 32.3 percent from the field, the team's third-lowest percentage of the season, coming on the heels of a season-low 27.1 at Duke. Carolina shot just 20 percent (3-15) in the fourth quarter while scrambling to pull out a win.
The Tar Heels trailed by a manageable three-point margin at halftime, 34-31, and were still down by three heading into the fourth quarter. The Hokies quickly made the margin five, and UNC didn't score in the first two minutes of the quarter, until Koenen hit two free throws with 7:57 remaining to make the score 52-49.
UNC's first field goal of the quarter, a jumper by Bennett, came with 5:31 left in the game, but the Tar Heels were still in it, trailing by three as Virginia Tech also struggled to score.
The margin remained three after Koenen made a pair of free throws with 4:10 to play, but the Hokies pulled away over the next two minutes, eventually pushing their lead to 10 with an Aisha Sheppard three-pointer that made it 63-53 with 2:11 remaining.
UNC got within five on a layup by Leah Church, her first non-three-point field goal of the season, that made it 65-60 with 57 seconds to play. After a Virginia Tech free throw, Church hit a foul shot of her own to again make it a five-point game. But the Hokies hit their free throws down the stretch to go up by 11, 72-61, before a Bennett jumper with 11 seconds to play provided the game's final margin.
The Tar Heels' last lead came with 3:39 to play in the first quarter, when UNC went up 11-10 on a three-point play by Tshitenge. They tied the score on several other occasions, the latest with 32 seconds to play in the third quarter, when a three from Church made it 47-47. Virginia Tech managed a three-point play on its next possession to earn the three-point lead it took into the fourth period.
UNC made just one three-pointer (in 11 attempts), a season low. The previous low for three-pointers in a game was four.
"Hats off to Virginia Tech," UNC coach Courtney Banghart said. "That's a really good team. We knew it would be a tough battle – they've got speed and length at every position and played like it.
"They had 12 offensive rebounds at halftime, and that's inexcusable. I thought our kids really did a good job in the second half securing the glass. I thought (UNC) did a good job of controlling what they could control. We didn't shoot it well – if you look at our statistics, clearly that was a shooting nightmare – but they played hard enough through a ton of adversity to give themselves a chance."
The Tar Heels are back in action at home on Thursday, hosting Syracuse for a 7 p.m. game.
UNC senior Taylor Koenen led all scorers with 19 points and also had the game's top rebounding day with 10 boards for her third double-double of the season. Senior Shayla Bennett scored 14 and junior Janelle Bailey had 13. Freshman Malu Tshitenge contributed eight points and eight rebounds.
Dara Mabrey led three Virginia Tech scorers in double figures with 18 points, including a 12-for-12 performance from the free throw line.
UNC shot 32.3 percent from the field, the team's third-lowest percentage of the season, coming on the heels of a season-low 27.1 at Duke. Carolina shot just 20 percent (3-15) in the fourth quarter while scrambling to pull out a win.
The Tar Heels trailed by a manageable three-point margin at halftime, 34-31, and were still down by three heading into the fourth quarter. The Hokies quickly made the margin five, and UNC didn't score in the first two minutes of the quarter, until Koenen hit two free throws with 7:57 remaining to make the score 52-49.
UNC's first field goal of the quarter, a jumper by Bennett, came with 5:31 left in the game, but the Tar Heels were still in it, trailing by three as Virginia Tech also struggled to score.
The margin remained three after Koenen made a pair of free throws with 4:10 to play, but the Hokies pulled away over the next two minutes, eventually pushing their lead to 10 with an Aisha Sheppard three-pointer that made it 63-53 with 2:11 remaining.
UNC got within five on a layup by Leah Church, her first non-three-point field goal of the season, that made it 65-60 with 57 seconds to play. After a Virginia Tech free throw, Church hit a foul shot of her own to again make it a five-point game. But the Hokies hit their free throws down the stretch to go up by 11, 72-61, before a Bennett jumper with 11 seconds to play provided the game's final margin.
The Tar Heels' last lead came with 3:39 to play in the first quarter, when UNC went up 11-10 on a three-point play by Tshitenge. They tied the score on several other occasions, the latest with 32 seconds to play in the third quarter, when a three from Church made it 47-47. Virginia Tech managed a three-point play on its next possession to earn the three-point lead it took into the fourth period.
UNC made just one three-pointer (in 11 attempts), a season low. The previous low for three-pointers in a game was four.
Team Stats
Hokies
UNC
FG%
.349
.323
3FG%
.286
.091
FT%
.733
.688
RB
45
44
TO
14
14
STL
6
8
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
19
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
6
Pts
14
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Pts
13
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Pts
8
FGM
1
3FGM
0
FTM
6
Players Mentioned
C
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