Chapel Hill, N.C. - Senior Rachel Holt (Buckeye, Ariz.) scored a season-high 21 points as the Sun Devils fell to the No. 10 North Carolina Tar Heels 72-68 in a close contest Sunday afternoon in front of 1,105 fans at Carmichael Auditorium in Chapel Hill, N.C.
The previously unbeaten Sun Devils played the Tar Heels close in the first half, trailing just 34-27 at the end of the first half despite playing without three guards and facing a UNC team which was at full strength for the first time in the 1999-2000. Holt turned in 13 points in the first half for the Sun Devils on 5-of-7 shooting.
In the second half, however, the Sun Devils took over the momentum in the game, opening the half with a 10-2 run and taking the 37-36 lead when sophomore Theresa Jantzen (Medicine Hat, Alberta) sank a jump hook and completed the three-point play with 16:50 left in the game. The game stayed close through the next few minutes until the Tar Heels went on a 10-0 run midway through the period to lead 64-51, their biggest advantage in the game.
The Sun Devils, however, did not give up, chipping away at the UNC lead by sinking their free throws and hitting a pair of clutch three-pointers by senior Kitch Kitchen (Newark, N.J.) and junior Natalie Tucker (Georgetown, Texas). Freshman Sarah Allen (Cincinnati, Ohio) drained a trey with one minute left to play to bring the Devils within two, but UNC junior guard Juana Brown sealed the victory for the Tar Heels with a field goal with three seconds left.
ASU shot 51.9 percent in the second half, outscoring North Carolina 41-38, and hit a season-high six three-pointers in the game, including five in the second half. Jantzen added 16 points for the Devils and has now scored in double figures in all four games this season, while Holt was the leading rebounder with eight boards. Allen and Kitchen paced the ASU squad with a season-high six assists each.
The Sun Devils return to action Friday evening when the team plays host to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 5 p.m. in the ASU Wells Fargo Classic in Tempe. South Carolina will take on Nevada in the second game on Friday, while the consolation and championship games will take place at 5 and 7 p.m. on Saturday night in Wells Fargo Arena.