Say that it’s diving into the scorer’s table, recklessly abandoning all regard for one’s self. Or standing tall, solitary in the face of a charging opponent. Maybe it’s just sprinting — not jogging or skipping — but hauling across the hardwood so quickly that it becomes impossible to stop, not to fall to one’s knees.
In these moments, games are won. More importantly, in these moments, seasons are won.
For now, the No. 12 North Carolina women’s basketball team won’t remember those plays, those junctures in time. They, as every team does, will see the numbers, small yellow lights that burn the final score — a 74-67 overtime loss to No. 15 Duke — onto a black casing.
Thirty-three, the career-best number of points Duke’s Elizabeth Williams had. Forty-six, the number of points Duke amassed in the paint, more than double UNC’s 18. Five, the number of three-point shots the Tar Heels converted, except it took them 30 attempts.
“If we had just knocked down a couple more threes, we’d be happy right now,” said UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell.
But once the numbers fade away, when the lights in Carmichael Arena finally dim and the players return back to their dorms, then those moments become clearer. For the sake of the future, ruminating on the good becomes more important than the bad.
This won’t be the first time this team has hurt. Junior Xylina McDaniel, then-third on the team in scoring, suffered a lower right leg injury during UNC’s Dec. 21 win over Elon. The doctor said her season was likely over — the same could not be said for her teammates.
“I remember thinking ‘Wow, sheesh, this is so much different from when Z was here,’ but at the same time, we’ve been playing without Z,” Stephanie Mavunga said. “You know you’ve got to suck it up and you can’t make excuses like ‘Oh, if Z was here, this that and the other.’
