Finally Back In Action, Carolina Falls To Miami

Sunday, January 10

Chapel Hill

1:00 PM

North Carolina

7-3,2-3ACC

Miami

6-4,3-4ACC

Miami (FL)

North Carolina

Janelle Bailey had her 40th career double-double Sunday but it wasn't quite enough for a win.

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

January 10, 2021 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: UNC Athletic Communications

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The good news: the UNC women's basketball team returned to action Sunday afternoon after a three-week break that included three games postponed due to Covid protocols. The bad news: the Tar Heels fell at home for the first time this season, losing 69-59 to Miami at Carmichael Arena.

For UNC coach Courtney Banghart, the takeaways from an afternoon spent on the court against outside competition for the first time in 2021 included plenty to be pleased about.

"When we watch that tape back I think there are a lot of things were going to really like," Banghart said. "We're moving the ball better, we're sharing it better, we're playing outside-in better, but we were a little bit rusty with our shots and kind of in all facets of the game. But I like who we are, and I like where we are."

North Carolina is now 7-3 overall and 2-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference heading into another home game (fingers crossed) against Virginia Tech on Thursday evening. Miami, which has played all three of its road games this season in the state of North Carolina and has been in the neighborhood since falling at Wake on Thursday, is now 6-4 overall and 3-4 in ACC play.

Senior center Janelle Bailey led UNC on Sunday with 18 points and a season-high 15 rebounds. It was her 40^th career double-double and came in her 100^th game as a Tar Heel.

Graduate guard Petra Holešínská was the only other Tar Heel in double figures with 10 points, marking the first time this season that UNC has not had at least three players in double figures. Only three times this season have the Tar Heels failed to put at least four players in double figures, and those three games have been the team's three losses.

Kelsey Marshall lead Miami with 19 points, including four three-pointers. Endia Banks added 14.

Perhaps not surprisingly for a team that's been idle since a win over Wake Forest on Dec. 20, UNC started slowly. The Tar Heels scored six points in the first 7+ minutes of play and went more than four minutes in that span without scoring, but they ended the opening period with an 8-2 run – including three-pointers by Bailey and freshman Kennedy Todd-Williams – to take a 16-9 lead into the second.

UNC shot the ball well in the second period, hitting five of 10 shots, including three of seven from long-range, but Miami edged back in to tie the game at 30-30 at the half.

The third quarter proved to be the Tar Heels' undoing, with Miami holding a 24-13 scoring advantage as UNC went 6-for-22 from the field and missed all seven three-point attempts. The margin was two, advantage UM, with 5:40 to play in the period but the Hurricanes went on a 13-4 run over the rest of the quarter to head into the fourth with an 11-point lead.

The game marked only the second time this season that UNC has trailed heading into the fourth quarter. The first was in the Dec. 14 game at Miami, and that one didn't end well, as the Tar Heels fell 67-63. This time, the Tar Heels earned their chances, getting off 28 shots to the Hurricanes' seven. Miami was up by 15, its largest lead of the game, after a three by Naomi Mbandu made it 64-49 with 3:11 to play. UNC continued to whittle away but couldn't get closer than nine down the stretch. The final margin marked Carolina's only double-digit loss of the year.

UNC came into the game shooting 31.3 percent from three but managed only 17.6 percent for the game, including a 1-for-21 slump after halftime. At the same time Miami had by far its best three-point game of the season. The Hurricanes came to Carmichael hitting 27.4 from long range but made 10 of 24 threes for 41.7 percent. It was a season high for makes (bettering the nine that Miami hit in the last game against UNC) and the first time this season the team has made more than 40 percent of its threes in a game.

So the Tar Heels head into Thursday's matchup with the Hokies, the best three-point shooting team in the ACC, knowing they'll need an improved shooting performance to win. After Sunday, they'll get back to work and continue to focus on their own improvement and, as Bailey put it, controlling the controllables.

"In this season of uncertainly we need to stay together and control what we can," the Tar Heel senior said. "I do feel like this team that played today is better than when we played Miami last time. I know we're going to continue to get better."

Gallery: (1-10-2021) Tar Heels Defeated By Hurricanes 69-59