On the next possession, redshirt junior forward Hillary Summers sank a jump shot. Twenty seconds later, sophomore guard Jamie Cherry drained her own 3-pointer. With each basket, the memory of the 29-point loss against N.C. State on Jan. 31 was slowly fading away.
But in the second quarter, the Wolfpack started making shots and the Tar Heels started making mistakes — shades of the first match-up. The Wolfpack out-scored the Tar Heels 26-12 in the second quarter en route to an 80-66 victory and a season sweep over UNC for the first time since the 1999-2000 season.
“We started out great,” Coach Sylvia Hatchell said. “We were fired up and making shots. N.C. State has a lot of weapons, they’re a very veteran team ... They started making shots, and we started making mistakes.”
In January’s match-up, the Wolfpack held a 33-28 advantage at halftime. To begin the second half, N.C. State used a 28-11 run to bolster its lead to 61-39.
In that third period, the Tar Heels committed four turnovers, shot 31 percent and ended the quarter with a made field goal drought of three minutes and 48 seconds.
On Sunday, the Tar Heels’ mishaps began before halftime. UNC held a 36-21 lead in the second quarter, but N.C. State used an 18-0 run to take a 39-36 advantage into the locker room.
In Sunday’s second quarter, UNC shot 33 percent from the field, committed four turnovers and ended the period with a scoring drought of five minutes and 40 seconds.
“Sometimes we didn’t match up on transition defense,” said Watts, who scored a career-high 30 points. “That’s one of the main things that we try to work on in practice. That led to a couple quick threes.”
