Late Free Throws Sink Tar Heels' Comeback

Hatchell's North Carolina women's basketball team trailed Wake Forest by one point with 12 seconds remaining in the game and had the ball for one final possession. Usually, that would be Teasley time.

But not Monday night. The Tar Heels' leading scorer wasn't even in Joel Coliseum Annex. She was serving a one-game suspension imposed by Hatchell for unsportsmanlike conduct after a loss to Georgia Tech on Thursday.

And so, the ball ended up in the hands of forward Nikita Bell. The freshman drove to the basket, missed a layup, grabbed her own rebound and missed a shot from the right baseline as the clock expired, ending a 65-64 loss to the Demon Deacons in front of 1,532.

After trailing by as many as 14 points, the

No. 17 Tar Heels (14-5, 4-3 in the ACC) eschewed their normal strategy of jacking up shots from the perimeter and began taking the ball to the hoop, drawing contact and spurring them to a second-half comeback. But in the end, it wasn't enough to prevent them from losing for the third time in their past four games.

"I want to be able to play fast-break and motion-offense stuff, but we're not making good decisions," Hatchell said. "So we may have to tone it down and go a lot more set, half-court structured, until we can make better decisions."

Largely on the backs of guards Leah Metcalf and Coretta Brown, who continually slashed to the basket and combined for 22 points in the second half, UNC whittled away at Wake's lead.

With Wake leading 59-48 and a little more than six minutes remaining in the game, the Tar Heels went on a 14-2 run to take a 62-61 lead with 1:24 to go. It was their first lead of the night since a 6-5 advantage two minutes into the game. Ten of UNC's points during that run came on free throws, including five from forward Chrystal Baptist.

Wake reclaimed the lead, but UNC went up once more. Metcalf poked the ball out of Tonia Brown's hands for her seventh steal, and Bell swooped in, scooped up the loose ball and scored for a 64-63 UNC lead with 18 seconds left.

Wake guard Adell Harris, however, was fouled by UNC center Candace Sutton -- still bothered by a sprained right ankle -- and went to the line for a pair of free throws. She sank them both to give the Deacons (9-9, 3-5) a 65-64 lead with 12.9 seconds left, setting up the Tar Heels' final possession.

The plan was for Coretta Brown take the final shot. But after drawing a double team, she dished the ball to Bell.

"It was like a prayer shot," Bell said. "As a freshman, you can't ask for more."

Baptist corralled the rebound after Bell's second miss, but the buzzer sounded before she could shoot, leaving the Tar Heels short.

UNC collected 26 offensive boards but didn't turn many of them into points.

"We missed a lot of chippies, a lot of putbacks," Coretta Brown said. "That's just something that we've got to work on."

After tying a season low with 66 field goal attempts, UNC needs to right its offense with a game at No. 6 Duke coming Thursday.

"There are no moral victories," Hatchell said. "This is a loss; whether it's 25 points or one, it's a loss. But we can learn from it, there's no doubt about that."

The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu.