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The Daily Tar Heel

Diamond DeShields sparkles against Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium

DURHAM — It was the first time freshman Diamond DeShields had ever played in Cameron Indoor Stadium. She had heard the legends — the noise level, the unforgiving fans — and she was trying to make an impression.

Thirty-one seconds into No. 17 North Carolina’s matchup with No. 3 Duke, and DeShields got that opportunity, an open three.

And she air-balled.

The fans, kind enough to remind her, lest she forget, started chants of, “Air-ball,” that rang through the arena. DeShields backpedalled to defense, smiling the whole way.

“I thought it was hilarious,” DeShields said, laughing. “I knew they were going to tear me up. I knew they were, but it’s part of the experience coming here. I’ll never forget this.”

At the end of the night, UNC (18-6, 6-4 ACC) walked out of Cameron Indoor with an 89-78 upset against the Blue Devils (22-3, 9-2 ACC). In what is fabled as one of the hardest arenas to play in in all of sports, DeShields set her career high in points — 30.

The almost-packed crowd of 8,210 surprisingly didn’t affect DeShields.

“Cameron is just historically a tough place to play in. I didn’t expect it any less tonight,” she said. “But what I was surprised at was the fact that I just, I didn’t really care, and it didn’t bother me one bit … I’m really proud of our mental toughness tonight.”

That mental toughness might be a result of a three-game skid the Tar Heels ended Monday night after losses to unranked Syracuse, Miami and Georgia Tech. In part, she also credited Anson Dorrance — UNC women’s soccer head coach and owner of 22 national championship trophies — who gave the Tar Heels a motivational speech Sunday in which he drilled self-reliance.

“And that’s all I was thinking about in the game,” she said. “Just trying to stay steady and stay composed.”

At the end of the half, armed with that mental toughness and a cannon on her arm that seemed to fire homing missiles, DeShields had 15 points and was 3-5 from downtown.

In the second half, the Blue Devils started making adjustments to accommodate for DeShields’ major performance.

Duke started to face guard DeShields, focusing on denying her the ball. It didn’t work.

The freshman guard had two more threes in the second period, ending with five of UNC’s 12 3-pointers on the night. For a team that averaged 5.6 three-pointers on the season, 36 points from beyond the arc was a crucial change.

While the game was never tied and the lead never changed after UNC jumped to 3-0 in the opening seconds, Duke did muster several coups.

To start the half, Duke went on an 11-0 run, cutting UNC’s lead to one point at 48-47.

DeShields quickly nipped that in the bud with a three, sparking an 8-0 run for UNC.

The home team wouldn’t get that close again, and with a minute left in the contest, fans were heading for the exits.

“Winning here is not easy and winning here is not common,” DeShields said. “To be a part of that group of winners who’ve come in here, faced the crowd, faced great Duke teams … and be able to win, that’s a part of history, so I’m proud to be a part of it.”

After the game, DeShields sat in the press room for the post-game conference. Cameron was long-since empty, its rambunctious fans nowhere to be seen, much less heard. As she fielded questions, she couldn’t help but smile.

She knew she got the last laugh.

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