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Lady Heels Fight Hard But Fall Short In NCAA Women's Tournament

Allisha Gray
UNC Athletic Communications

North Carolina's run in the NCAA Women's Tournament is over.   The fourth-seeded Lady Tar Heels fell to second-seed Stanford 74-65 in the West Regional final.  UNC wound up just one game short of reaching the Women's Final Four for the fourth time.

UNC was led by freshman guard Allisha Gray with 19 points and nine rebounds.   ACC Rookie of the Year Diamond DeShields added 13 points for North Carolina which finished its season 27-10

The Lady Tar Heels surprised many by taking a 36-30 lead into the locker room at halftime.  The game was played on Stanford's home floor at Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto, California.  Members of the Cardinal women's team were hoping not to duplicate last year's tournament result.  The Cardinal used a loss before reaching last year's Final Four as motivation this season.

Stanford came out hot in the second half to capture the lead.  The Cardinal built their advantage over UNC to as many as eight points.  North Carolina fought back through the second half retake the lead by a point with less than four e minutes remaining.  But key baskets and free throws down the stretch regained the advantage and sealed the win for Stanford.

The loss means head coach Sylvia Hatchell will have to wait until next season to return to the bench.  Her battle with Leukemia has kept her off the sideline this year.  Late last week she said her doctors told her she could coach her team if they reached the Final Four in Nashville.

When Hatchell does return for the new season later this year, every member of this 'Elite Eight' squad will be back.  There are no seniors on the roster.

Gurnal Scott joined North Carolina Public Radio in March 2012 after several stops in radio and television. After graduating from the College of Charleston in his South Carolina hometown, he began his career in radio there. He started as a sports reporter at News/Talk Radio WTMA and won five Sportscaster of the Year awards. In 1997, Gurnal moved on to television as general assignment reporter and weekend anchor for WCSC-TV in Charleston. He anchored the market's top-rated weekend newscasts until leaving Charleston for Memphis, TN in 2002. Gurnal worked at WPTY-TV for two years before returning to his roots in radio. He joined the staff of Memphis' NewsRadio 600 WREC in 2004 eventually rising to News Director. In 2006, Raleigh news radio station WPTF came calling and he became the station's chief correspondent. Gurnal’s reporting has been honored by the South Carolina Broadcasters Association, the North Carolina Associated Press, and the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas.
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