Box Score

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.- The Wofford women’s basketball team fell to the second ranked  North Carolina Tar Heels on Tuesday night in the Dean E. Smith center in Chapel Hill, N.C. 96-42. With the loss, the Terriers are now 0-2 on the season while the Tar Heels  improve to 6-0.    

North Carolina jumped out to a 16-0 lead before two made free throws by Liz Miller and Kathlyn Varno cut the deficit to 16-4. Mahagony Williams, reining Southern Conference Player of the Year,  was then sidelined with 9:45 to go on the clock and did not return in the first half after picking up three fouls.  Wofford would get its first field goal in the game at the 8:20 mark on a jumper by Natalie Gramblin. 

North Carolina would continue to pressure as Kathlyn Varno and Summer Nichols both found the basket for the Terriers to cut the Tar Heel lead to 33-12 with 5:38 left in the half. Varno made the score 42-14 with 1:58 remaining after converting two free throws. North Carolina would end the half with an 8-0 run to take a 50-14 lead into the halftime break. Wofford shot ten percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, zero percent from behind the arc, and 57.1 percent from the foul line. North Carolina shot 45.7 percent from the floor, 42.9 percent from three, and 88.2 from the charity stripe. 

The Terriers continued to play hard and played significantly better in the second twenty minutes. After a small run by North Carolina to start the second half, Wofford went back and forth with the Heels scoring in spurts. Wofford went on a 9-2 run in the middle of the second period led by Gramblin who knocked down back-to-back treys to go along with a three by Maddie Helms. A five point run by Kelly Dwyer was the final points on the board for the Terriers at the 1:22 mark.

For the game the Terriers shot 20 percent from the floor, 23.1 percent from behind the three point line and 57.1 percent from the foul line. The Tar Heels shot only 38.3 percent from the floor, 26.7 behind the arc and 78.9 percent from the line. Wofford forced 17 North Carolina turnovers while the Tar Heels forced 32 by the Terriers.

The Terriers were led by Gramblin who reached double figures with ten points while Liz Miller had seven and Varno added six . Kate Dempsey led the team in rebounds with eight while Miller added seven. North Carolina was paced by Cetera DeGraffenreid who tallied 15 points and Chay Shegog who chipped in 12 points to go along with 11 rebounds.

Tonight’s game was a homecoming for two members of the Wofford coaching staff. Head coach Edgar Farmer was the team manager for the 1994 UNC women’s basketball national champion team, while assistant coach Ed Geth was a member of the UNC men’s team that won the national championship in 1993.

Wofford will hit the road for the Thanksgiving holidays as they travel to Florida to take on Bethune-Cookman and North Florida.