BY JOE JOHNSON
jjohnson@herald-sun.com; 419-6667
CHAPEL HILL -- A season of discontent for North Carolina was partially erased on Sunday as the unranked Tar Heels upset No. 6 Duke 64-54 at Carmichael Arena.
The Tar Heels (18-10, 6-8 ACC), picked as one of the ACC favorites before the season, suffered through a miserable end of the regular season that included seven losses in eight games prior to beating Duke (24-5, 12-2). UNC might get another shot at Duke on Friday if it can get by Maryland in the first round of the ACC Tournament in Greensboro on Thursday.
"Needless to say, I'm very happy," UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell said. "It's a great win for us. We've had some close games where we've lost leads at the end. The kids had their backs up against the wall and they battled hard. This group has a lot of great days ahead of it. Hopefully this will get us started for the ACC Tournament."
The game had no bearing on the ACC standings, but it meant a lot to the Tar Heels, who ran around the perimeter of the court and high-fived the fans standing in the lower rows. A contingent of UNC students rushed the court after the final buzzer and celebrated with the jubilant team, too.
"It was a team effort," UNC senior Trinity Bursey said. "This was big for everybody."
North Carolina got the start it wanted with a commanding presence on the offensive glass. The Tar Heels scored their first three baskets after grabbing offensive rebounds. UNC went to lead 30-26 at halftime despite 16 turnovers.
Duke mounted a comeback to start the second half by making five of its first six shots, resulting in a 40-33 Blue Devils lead with 15:31 to play. Jasmine Thomas had given Duke its biggest lead on her lone 3-pointer of the game.
The Blue Devils would score only two more points during a five minute stretch when they could have knocked UNC out of the game.
Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie called this segment of the game pivotal.
"We did not capitalize in any way," McCallie said. "We were beginning to take command in a good way, but we didn't get a cushion we could build on."
UNC's Waltiea Rolle picked up her third and fourth fouls and went to the bench with 13:12 left. The biggest blow for the Tar Heels could have been the loss of Cierra Robertson-Warren, who was whistled for a flagrant elbowing foul with 13:03. The referees conferred and watched the video replay before deciding to send her to the bench.
Robertson-Warren remained on the UNC bench and continued to exhort the crowd while the Blue Devils shot free throws. She was not sent to the locker room until the next media timeout with 11:52 left in the game.
Meanwhile, McCallie chose to send Thomas to the line. As Thomas shot her first of two shots, it was waved off by the officials because of a bit of confusion getting in the substitute for Robertson-Warren. Thomas went on to miss both attempts.
Then on Duke's offensive possession, Karima Christmas was fouled on a 3-point attempt in the corner. She missed all three of her attempts but the Blue Devils got the ball back and Keturah Jackson was fouled. But she missed the front-end of her one-and-one, marking six straight misses at the line for the Blue Devils, who still led 42-39 at this point.
Cetera DeGraffenreid then took over for the Tar Heels, scoring 18 of her game-high 22 points to lead UNC to victory. She gave UNC the lead for good when she scored on a fast break make make it 45-44 UNC. DeGraffenreid added to the UNC lead with a pair of free throws the next trip of the floor as she went on to make a career-high 15 of 17 at the line.
"The coaches said to keep taking it to the basket and I was lucky enough to get the line," DeGraffenreid said.
Duke cut it one on two occasions, but that was as close as the Blue Devils got in the final 8:10.
The Blue Devils shot only 26.4 percent (19 of 72) from the floor and McCallie said having 25 more shot attempts than UNC was based more on her team's impatience and shot selection.
