An outstanding season came to a disappointing end on Friday afternoon for the UNC women's basketball program.
The Tar Heels couldn't build on their early lead, suffering a season-ending loss to the Duke Blue Devils in the Sweet 16.
Early on, the game was controlled by North Carolina. The Tar Heels started the game on an 11-0 run, as i just felt like North Carolina would continue building on their early lead.
However, that wasn't the case. In fact, the offense essentially was nonexistent the rest of the way.
After Alyssa Ustby made a layup to put the Tar Heels up by 11 with 4:19 remaining in the first quarter, North Carolina managed to score just 27 points throughout the remaining 36 minutes of action. While Duke didn't have their best day offensively either, North Carolina was a tad worse, connecting on just 28.3% of their shot attempts, including three of 11 from beyond-the-arc.
Come NCAA Tournament time, that's not going to be good enough to win games 99.9% of the time.
Maria Gakdeng suffered an ankle injury in the second quarter, and, although she tried to play in the second half, you can tell that the injury was bothering her. Gakdeng's presence in the post was terribly missed, as Duke capitalized on the boards on both ends while she was hampered with the injury.
It's a disappointing way for the likes of Ustby, Gakdeng and Lexi Donarski to wrap up their collegiate careers, but it shouldn't take away from everything they accomplished during their time in Chapel Hill. A 29-win season while hosting an NCAA Tournament Regional for the first time in over a decade is nothing to scoff at, as the trio played a major role in the program's success over their time at North Carolina.
Now, the attention turns to the offseason, as Courtney Banghart and crew look to build next year's roster. Decisions for players with eligibility remaining will be made, potential transfer portal targets will be contacted, and the Tar Heels will simply look to continue building on a very memorable season that occurred in 2024-2025.