On Thursday, the North Carolina women’s basketball team’s upset bid fell short against No. 3 Louisville. The Tar Heels lost by a score of 73-66.
What happened?
It was a tale of two halves in the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville between the Tar Heels (9-6) and the Cardinals (13-0). At halftime, Louisville led 40-23 before UNC came roaring back in the second half, outscoring the Cardinals, 43-33.
The impressive second half for the Tar Heels culminated when redshirt senior guard Paris Kea made a layup to bring North Carolina within two points of the Cardinals with 2:13 remaining in the game. Louisville answered Kea’s layup with a 3-pointer which was then followed by an and-one play from UNC sophomore Janelle Bailey to keep the deficit at two points.
That was closest the Tar Heels would get for the rest of the game as the Cardinals scored on their next possession to put the game out of reach with under a minute remaining. The highly ranked Cardinals escaped without a blemish to their resume.
Who stood out?
The Tar Heels came back with strong play from their starters, who scored 63 of the team's 66 points. North Carolina saw four players score in double figures and the team was led by Bailey and redshirt junior guard Stephanie Watts, who each notched 16 points.
The most impactful performance, however, came from Kea who scored all 13 of her points in the second half to lead UNC’s comeback effort. Kea did not have much of an impact of the first half because she missed much of the frame after committing three fouls.
Louisville had five players score in double figures, including two off the bench. The Cardinals leading scorer, Asia Durr, was averaging 22.5 points per game before tonight’s matchup and was held to just 10 points by the Tar Heels.
