Virginia fell on the road to No. 23 North Carolina, 64-56, on Friday (Feb. 3). Senior guard Ariana Moorer (Woodbridge, Va.) led all scorers with 21 points and tallied her 500th-career rebound for the Cavaliers.
The loss dropped Virginia’s record to 16-8 overall and 4-6 in ACC play. North Carolina improved to 17-5 overall and 7-2 in league play.
Moorer was 7-of-14 from the field and a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Entering the contest with 498 rebounds, she tallied four during the contest to up her career total to 502. Moorer led all players with six steals.
In the first half, Virginia shot 9-for-33 from the field (27.3 percent) compared to North Carolina’s 14-for-28 (50 percent) effort. Despite 14 first-half points from Moorer and 14 first-half Tar Heel turnovers, Virginia found itself trailing North Carolina, 35-24, at the break.
That 11-point margin was erased at the 4:00 mark of the second half on two free throws by Lexie Gerson (Fort Washington, Pa.) that made the score 52-52.
Carolina guard She’la White connected on a driving lay-up to put UNC up two, 54-52, but Virginia responded with a put-back by Ataira Franklin (Bowie, Md.) that tied the score again. That 54-54 tie was the final one of the game, as Tierra Ruffin-Pratt scored an old-fashioned three-pointplay for North Carolina on the next possession to put the Tar Heels up for good.
Each team grabbed 35 rebounds.
Gerson scored 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Franklin added 11 points for the Cavaliers.
North Carolina’s leading scorer was Chay Shegog with 20 points. Candace Wood added 14 points and five rebounds.
The Cavaliers will remain in the state of North Carolina for a Sunday (Feb. 5) match-up at NC State. Tip-off from Reynolds Coliseum is scheduled for 2 p.m.
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