The North Carolina women’s basketball team (5-1) dropped its first game of the season on Thanksgiving Day with an 83-55 loss to South Florida (4-0) in Bimini, Bahamas.
But for UNC, the loss was a call to action.
“We knew that we had to bounce back from the tough loss against USF,” junior guard Jamie Cherry said. “We came out with more energy to play hard.”
That energy showed, as UNC defeated Minnesota 91-77 the next day to close the Junkanoo Jam with a win.
The Tar Heels found themselves in a hole shortly after the opening tip of the loss to South Florida, but redshirt sophomore Paris Kea provided a spark, scoring nine straight points in the first quarter.
Kea’s second 3-point shot of the game with less than five minutes left in the second quarter cut down the Bulls' lead to 31-28. But the Tar Heels' offense went downhill from there, as Maria Jesperson nailed a 3-pointer for South Florida to go into halftime with a 39-30 advantage.
The Tar Heels never got closer than five points in the second half as the Bulls breezed through to earn a spot in the championship game.
Kea was the top scorer for the Tar Heels with 20 points, while sophomore Stephanie Watts earned her 14th double-digit scoring game in a row with 13 points.
A consolation matchup against Minnesota (4-2) on Friday offered UNC a chance at redemption, and the Tar Heels delivered behind continued domination from Kea, who tallied a career-high 32 points on 14-for-22 shooting.