UNC women’s basketball takes ugly loss at Notre Dame

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Sunday’s trip to Notre Dame made it clear that Carolina has some soul searching to do.

With a full week to prepare for the Fighting Irish after a home loss to Stanford, the Tar Heels were competitive in the first half but fell apart in the second. Notre Dame outscored Carolina 22-5 in the third quarter to turn a 33-27 lead into a 55-32 lead and went on to win 73-50. It was UNC’s lowest scoring output of the season.

Carolina had a rough shooting day, finishing 19-of-55 (35%) from the field, including 4-of-14 (29%) from 3-point range. The Tar Heels also struggled to take care of the ball, with 22 UNC turnovers leading to 27 Notre Dame points (the Irish had 15 turnovers, but Carolina was only able to score five points off of them).

There was a jarring dropoff in the Tar Heels’ performance underneath the basket from the first half to the second. In the first, they outrebounded the Irish 21-17, including 9-5 on the offensive glass, and outscored them 18-10 in the paint. In the second, Notre Dame outrebounded the Tar Heels 23-11, including 12-5 on the offensive glass, and outscored them 20-10 in the paint.

Like most teams, Carolina had no answer for Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo, who put up 31 points (her fifth 30-point game of the season), eight rebounds, seven steals and six assists. The Irish also got big outings from Cassandre Prosper, who had 17 points and 14 rebounds, and Duke transfer Vanessa de Jesus, who hit 4-of-5 threes and 6-of-7 field goals to finish with 16 points.

Nyla Harris led UNC with 14 points and eight rebounds. She was the only Tar Heel in double figures.

With the loss, Carolina drops to 13-5 on the season, 2-3 in ACC play, and 0-4 in NET Quad 1 games. The Tar Heels will likely find themselves unranked in the next AP poll. They started the season ranked #11.

The Tar Heels will try to avoid a third straight loss, which hasn’t happened since the 2023-24 season, when they host Miami on Thursday. The game starts at 7:00 PM ET and will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra.

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