Tar Heels Fall In OT In ACC Quarterfinals

Friday, March 4

Greensboro, N.C.

11 AM

North Carolina

23-6,13-5ACC

Virginia Tech (ACC Quarterfinals)

23-8,13-5ACC

OT 1

Virginia Tech

North Carolina

The Tar Heels fell in overtime to Virginia Tech on Friday.

Photo by: Jerome M. Ibrahim

March 4, 2022 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

GREENSBORO, N.C. – A thrilling game ended in defeat for No. 16 North Carolina Friday as the fourth-seeded Tar Heels fell to fifth-seeded Virginia Tech 87-80 in overtime in the Atlantic Coast Conference Women's Basketball Tournament quarterfinals at Greensboro Coliseum.

UNC (23-6 overall) now awaits the NCAA Tournament announcement on March 13. No. 21 Virginia Tech (23-8) advances to the ACC semifinals on Saturday.

Five Tar Heels reached double figures in the game, including all four sophomores in the starting lineup: Deja Kelly and Alyssa Ustby scored 18 points each, Anya Poole had 14 and Kennedy Todd-Williams added 11. Junior Eva Hodgson came off the bench for 13, including a three that beat the final buzzer to send the game into overtime tied at 69-69.

Carolina and Virginia Tech met for the third time this season and the second time in less than a month. After UNC won big at home in January, the Hokies took the game in Blacksburg on Feb. 13, 66-61. As in the game in Blacksburg, Carolina jumped out to an early lead on Friday and was up by as many as nine late in the first quarter. UNC led 21-15 at the end of the first period.

The Tar Heels still held that six-point margin at the half, 37-31, with Ustby already accounting for 13 points. UNC expanded the lead to as many as eight in the third quarter, 41-33 with six minutes to play in the period after a lay-up by Poole. The Hokies put together a 17-4 run after that to go up 50-45 in the final seconds of the quarter. Kelly nailed a three with four seconds to play, on a pass from Hodgson, to cut Virginia Tech's lead to two, 50-48, heading into the final quarter.

Neither team pulled ahead by more than four (UNC at 64-60 with 2:03 to play) in the fourth quarter. The Hokies tied up the game with 36 seconds to play on three free throws from Aisha Sheppard and then took the lead when Georgia Amoore converted a three-point play with two seconds on the clock. But the Tar Heels kept fighting and, with 2.6 seconds remaining, executed the inbounds play for Hodgson. Carlie Littlefield inbounded the ball from the far sideline to Ustby in the middle. She pitched it out to Hodgson for the long three, her third of the game, as time expired.

The Hokies held an 18-11 advantage in overtime, with 13 of those points coming from the foul line. Sheppard and Amoore finished with 22 points each and VT got 10 points off the bench from D'asia Gregg. ACC Player of the Year Elizabeth Kitley played just 11 minutes after sustaining a first-half injury.

Carolina finished with a 35-32 rebounding edge, winning the battle of the boards for the ninth game in a row. After a hot-shooting first quarter in which the Tar Heels shot 64.3 percent (9-14), they finished at 43.7 for the game. Virginia Tech shot 50.9 percent from the field, the first time this season that an opponent has topped 50 percent in field goal percentage.

Virginia Tech's 87 points marked the most by an opponent this season in Carolina's first overtime game of the year.