2015 NCAA WBB: No. 3 South Carolina edges past No. 15 North Carolina, 67-65

Peter Koutroumpis, Triangle Sports Network

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Last-second heroics worked against the 15th-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels as they came up short and suffered a 67-65 loss to the third-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks in regional semifinal play in the 2015 Women’s Basketball Championship Tournament on Friday.

Tifanny Mitchell’s drive and layup with five seconds put the Gamecocks ahead and turned out to be the winning basket as Jamie Cherry’s last-second attempt to win the game for the Tar Heels missed the mark.

Latifah Coleman (15 points, 3 assists), Allisha Gray (12 points, 5 rebounds), and Stephanie Mavunga (10 points, 13 rebounds) led the Tar Heels offense.

For the Gamecocks, a double-double performance from Alaina Coates (18 points, 10 rebounds) that included a flawless 10-for-10 free throw display, coupled with Mitchell’s 18 points, three rebounds, and five assists, all tied in with Tina Roy’s four 3-pointers that earned them a berth in the Elite 8.

“I’m so proud of my team and these kids for the way they hung together,” North Carolina head coach Sylvia Hatchell said.

“I’m so proud of these kids of how they competed and how they fought. But more than anything else, the chemistry that they have as a team.”

Throughout the season, the Tar Heels managed to either blow by teams when everything was clicking, or made a close game of it, coming up short somewhere before correcting it to secure the win.

North Carolina’s 37-percent shooting performance was the sum of a lapse in first-half shooting consistency that saw an eight-point lead disappear, before a resurgence in the second half pulled the Tar Heels even and to have at chance at pulling off an upset win.

On the other side, South Carolina realized that it had escaped the grasp of a relentless opponent.

“We’re just truly excited to still be in the NCAA Tournament and moving to the Elite 8,” South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley said.

“It was a great game by both teams. We do take our hats of to North Carolina. I know it’s a shame that someone had to lose a game, but we’re glad it’s not us.”

Top Performers:

UNC – (23-62/4/13 3Ptr) – Latifah Coleman (15 points, 3 assists), Allisha Gray (12 points, 5 rebounds), Stephanie Mavunga (10 points, 13 rebounds)

South Carolina – (20-46/7-16 3Ptr) – Alaina Coates (18 points, 10 rebounds), Tiffany Mitchell (18 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists), Tina Roy (12 points, 5 rebounds)

Halftime: South Carolina 29, North Carolina 25

UNC – (10-32/1-4 3Ptr) – Allisha Gray (6 points, 2 rebounds), Latifah Coleman (5 points, 2 assists), N’Dea Bryant (4 points, 2 rebounds)

South Carolina – (7-21/2-8 3 Ptr) – Tiffany Mitchell (7 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists), Alaina Coates (6 points, 4 rebounds), Aleighsa Welch (4 points, 5 rebounds)

What happened: The Tar Heels put together a quick 8-0 run initiated by N’Dea Bryant (9 points, 3 rebounds) and supported by Mavunga during the first two minutes of play.

The Gamecocks missed shot attempts on their first three possessions.

A three from Dozier soon brought the large South Carolina contingent – nine bus loads to be exact – to its feet.

However, another field goal from Mavunga minimized its impact.

South Carolina started the game shooting 1-for-6 and trailed 10-3 by the first media timeout.

Wilson used her length to put two up for the Gamecocks and added another two from the free throw line and cut the North Carolina lead to three points, 10-7, with 13 minutes remaining.

Back-to-back layups from Gray pushed the Tar Heels ahead by eight again – leading 15-7.

While the Gamecocks continued to struggle from the field, North Carolina soon fell into its own scoring rut – hitting only 2-of-14 since the first media timeout.

It was a game that both teams wanted to play from the inside throughout the first half.

Neither team relied solely on its perimeter shooting – rather more intermittently.

South Carolina slowly chipped away at the Tar Heels’ lead, and trailed 15-12 by the midpoint of the half.

North Carolina remained scoreless for a five-minute stretch, but somehow the Gamecocks couldn’t capitalize on it.

Mavunga scored a hard-fought layup inside to push the lead back up to three points – 17-14.

The battle in the paint continued while the Gamecocks lit up from outside.
Tina Roy hit a three that tied the game at 19-19.

Another North Carolina miss eventually led to Coates dropstepping inside and laying the ball up and in to give South Carolina its first lead, 21-19 with 3:44 to play.

With the majority of the crowd dressed in garnet, the noise levels were exponentially higher as the Gamecocks continued to ride the momentum they had initiated.

As Coates continued to add to the lead, a jumper from Bryant kept the Tar Heels within two.

Both teams fought to earn points in the paint and South Carolina fared better than North Carolina did.

Four straight free throws put the Gamecocks ahead by seven with 10 seconds to go.
With last possession, Coleman dropped a three to pull the Tar Heels closer, trailing South Carolina 29-25 at halftime.

Both teams were fairly even in their shooting during the opening half, with the Tar Heels converting 31 percent to the Gamecocks’ 33 percent.

South Carolina took advantage of plentiful free throw opportunities to get back into the game, dropping 13-of-17 from the line.

North Carolina wasn’t able to keep up with the Gamecocks early in the second half, missing scoring opportunities on its first three possessions while South Carolina pulled ahead 33-27.

Coleman converted on another three as the Tar Heels continued to fight for points.
A block and a steal from Coates gave Mavunga the ball to outlet to Rountree.

The guard ran it up the floor to lay it in as North Carolina trailed 38-27 with 15 minutes remaining.

Bryant then dropped a pullup jumper from the top that gave the Tar Heels the lead back a minute later.

Coates was the Gamecocks’ catalyst throughout the first 10 minutes of the half, scoring tough baskets inside.

South Carolina led 45-39 with 12 minutes to go.

Coming out of the media timeout, North Carolina put together two quick baskets from Coleman and Butts to make it a two-point game.

A missed shot from Welch and a rebound from Mavunga gave Coleman a chance to drive at the hoop.

She was fouled and scored 1-of-2.

The Gamecocks pushed their lead to four, leading 48-44, thanks to another long bomb from Roy.

Coleman tied it up again with 8:48 to play.

Mitchell’s three quickly gave the Gamecocks the lead back.

That’s the way it would go for the remainder of the game.

Washington hit her first three of the game and tied it up 52-52 with under seven to play.
Both sides turned the ball over and missed shots, maintaining the deadlock until Roy hit her third three.

Butts scored a layup to keep North Carolina within one, until Washington hit her second three of the half and put the Tar Heels ahead 57-55.

Two subsequent missed free throws gave Gray the rebound and she was fouled.

Gray’s work at the free throw line extended North Carolina’s lead to four points, but Roy answered with another three and made it a one-point game.

“She was huge, Staley said of Roy.

“I thought she ran our team extremely well. It’s something that she has done for us for many years, and I thought she did not take as many shots as I would have liked her to take because she got in the flow of, you know, being the point guard and running our team. For us, she’s one that can stretch the defense out and I just thought she should have been a little bit more aggressive, like she was in the second half. ​But thankfully she made some shots when we needed to make the shots, and that’s what you want. You want to call on the senior in those situations, and you know they have been through a lot in our program, and I was happy she just came through and always stayed ready.”

Coleman drove in for the opposite hand layup and North Carolina was ahead 61-58 with 3:17 to play.

Coates dropped two free throws to pull South Carolina to within one with three minutes to go.

Butts drove and score two the hard way, bouncing off a few bodies to create another three-point separation.

Wilson drove the lane but couldn’t beat Butts or Mavunga.

However, the Tar Heels didn’t take advantage of the opportunity to go up by five.

It was a turning point in the game.

North Carolina led 63-60 with 1:31 to play.

A critical Gamecocks miss by Coates and subsequent possession call gave the Tar Heels the ball.

Coleman put up a running jumper, but it hit the front of the iron and dropped short.

A free throw from Gaines missed, but South Carolina got the ball back.

Gaines redeemed herself and dropped a three from the left corner to tied the game with 59 seconds to play.

On North Carolina’s next possession, Washington missed her three-point attempt and Coates was fouled on the rebound, resulting in Mavunga fouling out.

Coates made her first and Hatchell called a timeout with 46.1 to play.

The South Carolina forward made her second shot and set the Tar Heels’ possession up, trailing by two.

Rountree’s drive didn’t drop but North Carolina got the ball back off the offensive board.

Coleman got the ball from Washington and gave it back to her following the in-bounds and she tied the game up again, 65-65, with 22.3 left on the clock.

The ball and the game was in the Gamecocks’ hands.

Roy had the ball and had Coleman to beat, but she passed it inside to Mitchell instead.

Mitchell scored on the layup and South Carolina led 67-65 with 5 seconds to play.

North Carolina called a timeout.

Having only played three minutes during the first half, and sitting on the bench during the second, Cherry, North Carolina’s lone freshman, got the ball in her hands and dribbled to mid-court to take the last shot.

She made it to the top of the arc before launching a shot attempt that banked hard and high off the glass.

Usually you have like one dribble for every second, and so we were going to go for the win, not the tie,” Hatchell said.

“I wanted to go for a three. We weren’t going for the tie. So I was wanting Jaime and she did that – she’s done that two or three times this year but we didn’t get the screen set for her there. She hesitated because I think she was trying to draw the foul, but they are not going to call a foul unless you throw them up in the bleachers on a situation like that. But I think she hesitated to try to draw the ball, but it didn’t happen like that. But Jamie is very good at that. She’s, like I said, done it several times this year. You know, you gamble; sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.”

Up next: South Carolina moves on to the Elite 8 on Sunday to face seventh-ranked Florida State – 66-65 winners over ninth-ranked Arizona State on Friday.

North Carolina ended its season with a 26-9 overall record.