DeShields, UNC send N.C. State packing

North Carolina women’s basketball associate head coach Andrew Calder says his star freshman guard Diamond DeShields usually shows up before anyone else on every occasion.

“Most of the time she’s the first one in the gym before every practice or before the games,” he said. “She works extremely hard.”

But in No. 13 UNC’s 79-70 rivalry win against No. 20 N.C. State Thursday night, DeShields didn’t make her presence known in Carmichael Arena until well into the first half.

The freshman phenom was held scoreless until almost seven minutes into the contest and then didn’t score again until nearly the seven-minute mark of the half . But when she did score, she did so with purpose.

Her basket propelled UNC into a 16-2 run, during which she scored 10 points and the Tar Heels took their first lead of the game.

It would be the first and last lead change of the contest .

It was also the first of a series of runs in the game. It was followed by a 10-1 run to close the half and widen the gap, an 8-0 run by N.C. State to start the second half, and then finally, a fruitless 10-2 run by N.C. State in the waning minutes of the game .

“Runs are a part of basketball,” DeShields said.

“They’re going to be a part of every game.”

Still, she said the streaky nature of the night forced North Carolina’s hand.

“We had to mature tonight,” she said. “I think we did. We kept our composure. We didn’t panic at the free-throw line.”

Yet in the beginning of the game, North Carolina was anything but running. The team seemed sluggish at best, falling behind 7-0 then 13-7, then 19-9 .

Sophomore forward Xylina McDaniel — who calls herself the resident upperclassman of a starting five composed otherwise of freshmen — had the team’s only points for the first six minutes of the game.

But in that span, she also dished out advice to her less-experienced teammates.

“I told them to keep their heads up,” she said. “That comes with playing basketball. You may not always start off strong.”

DeShields — who leads the team with 15.9 points per game — acknowledged her slow start, and even though she finished the night with a game-high 21 points, she wasn’t satisfied.

“You can look at the points and the rebounds and say I had a good game but personally seven turnovers is unacceptable and defensively, I can’t allow that girl to hit however many 3-pointers on me, so I’ve got to do better,” DeShields said.

Once DeShields found her rhythm and the strong play started off, it showed little signs of stopping. The North Carolina team that trailed by as many as 10 points in the first 10 minutes of play forced 12 turnovers in the second half of the period and went into the locker room up by 16 .

Calder said it was only a matter of time before his team’s true nature showed.

“We believe our team will eventually wear everybody down,” he said.

“And I felt like really towards the end of the first half, we wore them down.”

And even when N.C. State followed form with a run of its own to bring the game to within five points with just three minutes to play , the Tar Heels’ confidence never wavered.

“It was a comforting win, and I was never worried,” DeShields said. “That was a first for me.”

sports@dailytarheel.com