Tigers topple Tarheels 52-47

Already rolling up her sleeves in a game barely two minutes old, North Carolina head coach Sylvia Hatchell knew the matchup with ACC basement dweller Clemson wasn’t going to be an easy outing.

With an 8-0 run from Clemson to open the first half and a 7-0 run to start the second, it came as no surprise to Hatchell that No. 22 UNC suffered the 52-47 upset.

“I don’t know how much worse we could have played,” Hatchell said.

The Tar Heels were held scoreless five minutes before posting their first field goal, a Krista Gross inside bucket with an assist from She’la White.

“I don’t know where the lack of effort came from,” Gross said. “We didn’t have the same mentality we had going into the Maryland game.”

The loss marked the first time since 2001 that Clemson defeated UNC, breaking an 18-game win streak for the Tar Heels.

Shooting nearly 40 percent in the first half and 21 percent in the second, UNC fought to find consistency. The Tigers held ACC leading scorer Chay Shegog to 11 points.

“We’ve got to come together. We can’t fall apart,” Shegog said. “We’re gonna go through a lot this season. We’ve been through a lot this season. It’s up to us to stick together … We can’t unravel, we’ve just got to keep pushing.”

Shegog and Tierra Ruffin-Pratt were the leading Tar Heels scorers on the night as they both had 11 points.

UNC trailed Clemson for most of the second half until Ruffin -Pratt sunk a jump shot from the right side that put UNC ahead by one with nine minutes remaining in the game.

Ruffin-Pratt’s basket was enough to wake the nearly dormant crowd in Carmichael Arena, but it didn’t hold off the surging Tigers for long.

The two teams traded possession and occasionally baskets for the remainder of the contest, but the Tigers were able to keep the game in their favor. In the final nine minutes, UNC missed 11 field goal attempts while Clemson only missed the mark twice.

The Tar Heels had a shot at forcing overtime with 37 seconds left as White hit a jumper just inside the arc to bring UNC within three. But on the next offensive possession, White sent an errant pass out of bounds, returning possession to Clemson.

Not only was UNC unable to score, posting the lowest offensive output this season, but they also lost the battle on the glass. The Tigers out-rebounded the usually strong rebounding Tar Heels 41-36, and Clemson had a 30-21 advantage on defensive rebounds.

“We got outrebounded,” Hatchell said. “I really don’t know. The great Carolina team I know wasn’t out there tonight. Now why, I don’t know. I really expected us to go out there and play well.”

While the statistics easily spell out reasons for the loss, Hatchell attributed the outcome to a lack of intensity by her team.

After coming out strong against ACC opponents Maryland, Virginia and Miami, the team lacked focus against a Clemson squad that was previously 0-53 against ranked opponents.

“We’ve got to get kids to step up and regroup because we know how good we can play,” Hatchell said.

“It wasn’t the same team out there tonight that I’ve been seeing, but we’ve got to get that team back out there.”

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