Defensive effort seals victory for Tar Heels

ATLANTA — As the region surrounding Alexander Memorial Coliseum thawed from Saturday’s ice storm, the two offenses inside the arena Sunday appeared frozen solid.

Neither No. 12 North Carolina nor Georgia Tech cracked through the icy glaze to reach 50 points until just more than three minutes remained on the clock. But it was the Tar Heels’ defense, which defrosted before tip-off, that made the difference.

UNC trapped and pressured the Yellow Jackets from the start, causing turnovers and converting Ga. Tech’s errors into fast-break opportunities to earn a 17-2 lead. Though UNC wasn’t pretty, Georgia Tech proved unable to break through and make a run, helping the Tar Heels hold on for a 55-41 win.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL UNC 55 Georgia Tech 41

The Jackets (12-6, 3-4 in the ACC) made just 15 of 57 shots in the game. An improvement of that percentage could have led to a completely different outcome given UNC’s equally abysmal output in the second half.

The Tar Heels (17-3, 5-2), after leading 34-17 at halftime, failed to make a field goal in the first nine minutes of the second half but managed to see their lead remain at 13 points or greater during that stretch.

“It was just really frustrating,” said Ga. Tech coach MaChelle Joseph. “We got great looks; we just couldn’t knock down the shots. Ball was rolling around the rim, and it just wasn’t going in.”

North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell seemed equally frustrated midway through the second half. With her team still up 13, she took advantage of a Jacket timeout by gathering her team around, screaming and throwing her clipboard down at the floor.

“We had no energy on the floor,” Hatchell said she told the team during that timeout. “We were very lethargic. We were not playing with intensity.”

That stretch prior to the timeout included just one point — a free throw by Erlana Larkins — and seven turnovers.

“We got too complacent,” said Nikita Bell. “We came up and got a big lead, and we relaxed. Coach Hatchell always says, ‘When you’re up, don’t let up.’ … It was just terrible. If it wasn’t for the first half, it might have been a different game in the second half.”

Much of those first 20 minutes, which carried UNC to its third straight win, was a defensive clinic.

In an effort similar to the play that held No. 1 Duke to 13 first-half points Monday, UNC caused seven Jacket turnovers in the first six-plus minutes of the game, five of them coming off steals.

“We were prepared for it,” Joseph said. “That’s the thing they do the best. We held a top-10 team to 55 points – you expect to win. We just had a hard time scoring.”

In all, 20 of UNC’s 34 first-half points came off turnovers.

Bell, a native of Columbus, Ga., scored six of those to help her finish with 12 first-half points. A sizable group of family and friends attended the game to support the senior, who finished with a team-high 14.

But despite the impressive effort, Hatchell and the players were quick to put it in context with the disappointing latter stage of the game.

“It’s not acceptable the way we played the second half,” Hatchell said. “First half — best team in the country. Second half, probably the worst team in the country.”

Yet, UNC managed to hang on for a road victory against a team that entered the weekend ranked higher than it did in the RPI. A seven-point run, beginning with a picture-perfect driving layup by Ivory Latta and culminating with a wide-open layup by La’Tangela Atkinson, gave UNC its biggest lead of the game at 47-26, all but sealing the win.

And if the Tar Heels’ offense can warm up and surrender less than the 22 turnovers it committed Sunday, UNC can look forward to clearer and milder conditions in the weeks ahead.

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.