CHAPEL HILL - When you're trying to go undefeated in the Atlantic Coast Conference for the first time in school history, you must win games the way the North Carolina women's basketball team did Monday night.

Ugly.

Despite being outrebounded 46-38 and missing 21 of 41 free throws, the No. 2 Tar Heels prevailed 85-79 over N.C. State, staving off a late-game rally by a determined Wolfpack squad.

"Well, we won," North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell said. "That's about all I can say."

Yeah, but how?

"Good question," she said. "Getting the ball inside. ... And the balance of our team, which is the strength of our team."

Four players scored in double figures for the Tar Heels, including seniors Erlana Larkins and (18 points, seven rebounds) and LaToya Pringle (14 points, eight rebounds), who pounded the ball in the paint late in the game and helped hold back a State team that trailed by five with 20.9 seconds remaining.

UNC (26-2, 13-0) captured at least a share of the ACC regular-season title for the fourth time in school history. The Tar Heels won or shared the regular-season title previously in 1997, 2005 and 2006. They finished the 1996-97 season at 15-1 and the 2005-06 season at 13-1.

And now the Heels have a chance to go undefeated in the conference for the first time, with their last regular- season game Sunday at home against rival Duke.

"I'm not sure if we'll be thinking as much about it being regular-season championship as it is Duke," Hatchell said. "For the last several years, that's been our main rival. And it's been a great rivalry. ... It's fun. These kids enjoy playing in that game because there is so much talent out there."

UNC defeated Duke 93-76 on Feb. 4.

A loss to Duke could mean sharing the regular-season title with Maryland (28-2, 12-1), a team the Tar Heels defeated on Jan. 26 in double overtime.

"I don't know about that sharing part, I think we're going to close it out," Larkins said of the Tar Heels, who will be the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament on March 6-9.

In a game it needed to keep its season on track, the Pack (17-10, 5-7) cut into a 17-point, second-half deficit and narrowed it to 84-79 with 20.9 seconds left on a 3-pointer by junior Shayla Fields.

Fields, who led the Pack with 26 points, drained the shot from the top of the arc. That gave the Pack new life, though it would get no closer.

N.C. State coach Kay Yow said the effort spoke volumes.

"They gave everything they had," she said. "That took a tremendous effort from the team."

Yow said her team, which lost to North Carolina 79-70 on Jan. 13, did not catch the breaks needed to stymie a powerhouse team like the Tar Heels, especially as the Pack went without senior forward Khadijah Whittington for a long stretch in the second half.

Whittington, who finished with 18 points and five rebounds, was called for her fourth foul with 16:12 left and didn't return until eight minutes later.

Despite their poor foul shooting, the Tar Heels could take comfort in an unsual stat for the run-and-gun team: a season-low eight turnovers.

"Thank goodness we did take care of the ball," Hatchell said. "If they would have gotten points off turnovers, it might have been a different thing here."