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No. 15 North Carolina beats Virginia on last-second shot, 72-70

Mavunga putback seals victory for Tar Heels

<p>Junior guard Faith Randolph scored 24 points Thursday night in Chapel Hill, but North Carolina's Stephanie Mavunga had the last laugh. Mavunga put back a Tar Heel miss to down Virginia at the buzzer.</p>

Junior guard Faith Randolph scored 24 points Thursday night in Chapel Hill, but North Carolina's Stephanie Mavunga had the last laugh. Mavunga put back a Tar Heel miss to down Virginia at the buzzer.

The Virginia women’s basketball team battled to the last second Thursday night against No. 15 North Carolina, but a buzzer-beater by the Tar Heels, who hadn’t scored in four minutes, sent the Cavaliers home with another top-25 loss, 72-70. Sophomore forward Stephanie Mavunga scored the game-winner on a last-second putback.

Virginia did not miss much in the opening half, when it shot 58.3 percent from the field, and did not miss at all in the first three minutes of the game, when Carolina turned the ball over three times and missed two jump shots to cede the Cavaliers an early 9-0 lead.

Virginia extended that lead to 11 as it held Carolina to only four points in the first 7:48 of the game. But the Tar Heels rallied, making six of seven shots to seize a 19-18 edge with 8:08 remaining in the half.

Virginia retook the lead, 28-25, with six minutes left and extended it to five before Carolina pushed back. The Tar Heels entered halftime up 35-33.

Carolina extended its lead to 61-51 at the 10:20 mark of the second half for its largest advantage of the game. With 4:19 remaining, Virginia was still down by nine, but the Cavaliers surged back as Carolina endured a scoring drought that lasted until the last second of the game.

After a North Carolina timeout with 22 seconds to go, freshman guard Mikayla Venson made a jump shot to tie the game up at 70. The Tar Heels, though, had the chance to win the game after securing an offensive rebound off a missed jumper. With one second left, Mavunga grabbed her offensive board and made the putback to send the Cavaliers home.

The Cavaliers committed only five turnovers in the second half after turning the ball over 16 times in the first. Carolina, which had only 13 rebounds in the first half, grabbed 26 after the break.

Junior guard Faith Randolph paced the Cavaliers with 24 points. Sophomore guard Breyana Mason added a season-high eight assists while scoring two points. Mavunga finished with 23 points to lead her team.

The Cavaliers had chances to win at the charity stripe but missed 10 of 17 free throws. Carolina scored 22 points off 21 Cavalier turnovers while also outscoring Virginia by eight points in transition and 14 in the paint. Carolina had an impressive five blocks compared to the Cavaliers’ zero.

Virginia returns to Charlottesville Sunday for its season finale against No. 8 Louisville.

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