Women's basketball overcomes distractions to get win against Oregon

As the No. 11 North Carolina women’s basketball team traveled out west to take on the Oregon Ducks, its focus was on other things.

Players were looking forward to the next item on the schedule: a three-game tournament in Hawaii as part of the Rainbow Wahine Showdown.

That, and the fact that travel prevented the team from getting in the gym for normal pregame work, meant a slow start for the Tar Heels. The Ducks jumped to a 20-12 lead within eight minutes of the game and took a 29-28 lead into the half.

“We started off extremely slow, but I mean we’re on the West Coast so we have a little bit of an excuse,” said junior forward Xylina McDaniel with a laugh.

And she was able to chuckle at the situation because UNC turned things around at halftime and went on to a 76-59 victory.

“A lot of us were thinking about Hawaii,” McDaniel said. “And Coach (Sylvia) Hatchell was like, ‘Well, we have one more game before we get to Hawaii, so you guys better pick it up.’”

“And we want to have a good time in Hawaii, but if we would have lost on the boards and lost the game, then we would have a miserable time in Hawaii. So we had motivation.”

That motivation proved all the difference for the Tar Heels. After being out-rebounded 27-23 during the first period, UNC put extra emphasis on crashing the boards and hauled in 23 while Oregon had just 15.

“We’re a rebounding team and, I mean, if we’re not rebounding then something’s wrong,” McDaniel said.

In addition, the Tar Heels stopped settling for jump shots — they went 2-for-12 from the 3-point line in the first period — and put an emphasis on getting the ball into the paint.

“The main thing I told them was, ‘Get the ball inside,’” said Hatchell about her halftime talk. “We had four plays in order. I said, ‘This, this, this and this. And then run them again. This, this, this and this.’

“So we came out in the second half and that’s what we did. And we scored the first four times, and so I said, ‘OK, run them through again.’”

That inside-first mentality was beneficial to the team as a whole but especially for sophomore forward Stephanie Mavunga, who led the team with 23 points on a 10-for-17 performance from the field.

“It just happened to be one of those on nights for me,” she said. “And my teammates just really did a good job of trying to find me. They just really had confidence in me and kept passing me the ball.”

With the win, the Tar Heels (4-0) will be able to look ahead to a much-anticipated trip to Hawaii.

Still, the trip isn’t about having fun and soaking in the sun for Mavunga and the team.

“There’s someone else that’s on the menu now,” she said. “We have to take care of business down in Hawaii.”

sports@dailytarheel.com