This time, Notre Dame was ready for UNC
There was no doubting that North Carolina had Notre Dame’s full attention for their quarterfinal round showdown in the ACC women’s tournament.
Having handed the top-seeded and nationally fourth-ranked Irish a regular-season loss in Chapel Hill, the eighth-seeded Tar Heels weren’t going to fly under the radar.
“We were happy to see them on our side of the bracket,” Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said.
Notre Dame (28-3) used a balanced offense, led by all-ACC senior guard Arike Ogunbowale’s game-high 28 points and ACC Defensive Player of the Year Brianna Turner’s 24, to pull away from UNC (18-14) in the second half and post a 95-77 victory Friday in the Greensboro Coliseum.
Paris Kea, UNC’s first two-time all-ACC first-team pick in 11 years, countered with 27 points for the Tar Heels playing in her hometown. The Greensboro Page grad kept the Tar Heels in the game, shooting 5-of-10 from 3-point distance and 10-of-19 overall, but UNC never made a serious run at the Irish over the final 15 minutes.
Notre Dame advanced to Saturday’s semifinals and will play fifth-seeded Syracuse at noon. Syracuse (24-7) recorded the first upset of the tournament, avenging a regular-season loss to fourth-seeded Miami 92-85 in Friday’s first quarterfinal.
“They showed why they won the national championship last year,” UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell said of Notre Dame. “They’re just so good. I thought we ran out of gas a little bit after playing back-to-back games from yesterday (an 80-73 win over Georgia Tech). The rebounds were even at halftime, but by the end of the game they outrebounded us by 12 (37-25).
“I’m proud of our team. We shot right at 50 percent (actually 49.2). That’s pretty good against Notre Dame. But we couldn’t stop them. We couldn’t stop their inside game. They’re big and strong and really, really tough around the basket.”
If the Tar Heels were harboring any late hopes of an upset, they went by the boards when the Irish connected on nine consecutive shots early in the fourth quarter, including three 3-pointers by Ogunbowale, to send the lead past 20 points.
It’s not all bad news for the Tar Heels, however.
Sophomore center Janelle Bailey returned from a one-game disciplinary suspension to post a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. And junior guard Shayla Bennett added 17 points, including a 3-of-5 effort from 3-point territory.
“You look at all the positives,” Hatchell said. “I think we’re peaking at the right time, even though we don’t have (Stephanie) Watts right now. But we’re expecting to have her back for the NCAA tournament.”
Watts, a redshirt junior wing who averages 15.2 points, has missed the last five games with a hyperextended left knee.
Despite its record, UNC is a solid projection to make the NCAA tournament after a three-year hiatus. All three were losing seasons, an outgrowth of the NCAA’s academic investigation into the program.
“I told our team in the locker room I would not want to play us in the NCAA tournament,” Hatchell said. “We’re capable of beating anybody. We’ve showed that.”
This story was originally published March 8, 2019 at 5:29 PM.