Lady Tar Heels Drop First ACC Contest of the Season

BLACKSBURG, V.A. –Senior guard Shayla Bennett scored a career-high 26 points and North Carolina battled back from its biggest deficit of the season, but it wasn’t quite enough as the Tar Heels fell 76-70 to Virginia Tech Sunday at Cassell Coliseum in Atlantic Coast Conference women’s basketball play.

“Huge credit to Virginia Tech,” UNC coach Courtney Banghart said. “They had a lot of fans that were excited about this team and they should be. We knew they were going to be good at every position, and they played with great urgency.”

Against the Hokies (11-3, 1-2 ACC), who remain unbeaten at Cassell this season, the Tar Heels led by six, 17-11, in the first quarter. But the home team closed the period with a 6-0 run and tied the score at 17-17 heading into the second quarter. UNC pulled ahead with the first basket of the second quarter, a jumper by senior Taylor Koenen, but 19-17 proved to be Tar Heels’ last lead of the game. The Hokies led by four at halftime, 36-32.

Virginia Tech opened the third quarter with an 18-4 run to go up by 18, the largest deficit the Tar Heels have found themselves on the other side of this season. Virginia Tech was 7-for-9 (77.8) with four three-pointers over the first 5:47 of the period.

After a timeout at the 4:13 mark, the Tar Heels started to climb back in, using an 11-4 run over the remainder of the period to cut the VT advantage to nine, 58-49, heading into the fourth quarter.

The Tar Heels got within three, 59-56, on a bucket and a three by Bennett and then a layup by Koenen on a pass from freshman Kennady Tucker. The Hokies called a timeout then hit a three out of the break to make it a six-point advantage, and they pulled ahead again after that.

UNC kept fighting and got within six in the final minute when junior Janelle Bailey stole the ball on a VT in-bounds and passed to Bennett, who went in for a layup to make it 73-67 with 29 seconds to play. After the Hokies sank a pair of free throws, Bennett hit another three to make the margin five, 75-70, with 16 seconds to play, but that was UNC’s final bucket of the game.

UNC won the rebounding battle 43-35 and outscored Virginia Tech 13-5 on second-chance points. The Hokies held a 36-32 advantage in the paint and led 19-0 in bench points thanks to junior Trinity Baptiste, who subbed in to tie for the team’s scoring lead with 16.

After Bennett’s career-high 26, UNC got 15 from Koenen, 12 from freshman Malu Tshitenge and 10 from senior Madinah Muhammad. Bailey led UNC in rebounds with nine, Bennett grabbed eight and Tshitenge had seven, including four offensive boards.

“I asked our guys to take care of the rebounds and I thought we rebounded well – four of our starters had over five rebounds plus a kid off the bench,” Banghart said. “We’ve got a lot to build on.”

UNC (11-3, 2-1 ACC) is back in action on Thursday, hosting Triangle-rival NC State at Carmichael Arena for a 7 p.m. matchup.