Davidson Battles at UNC, Falls in Season Opener 70-59

Friday, November 9

Chapel Hill, NC

5:00 p.m.

Davidson College

0-1

North Carolina

1-0

Davidson

North Carolina

Barbara Sitton

Photo by: Tim Cowie - DavidsonPhotos.com

Davidson Battles at UNC, Falls in Season Opener 70-59

11/9/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Gavin McFarlin - Assistant SID

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Find Your Favorite Wildcat Action Shot at DavidsonPhotos.com

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Laura Murray (Harrisburg, Pa.) dropped in 16 points and Sophia Aleksandravicius (Pound Ridge, N.Y.) pulled down 15 rebounds as Davidson battled to the end before falling 70-59 in its season opener at North Carolina as part of the women's basketball preseason WNIT at Carmichael Arena Friday evening.

The Wildcats (0-1) went back-and-forth with the Tar Heels (1-0) most of the night, until tied at 40-all midway into the second half, UNC turned up its defense and used a 17-1 run over a five-minute stretch to grab the lead for good.

Despite being down by 20, Davidson never stopped fighting, closing the game on a 9-0 run for the final deficit of 11.

Murray drained three of the Wildcats' eight triples on the evening to pace the team with 16 points. The SoCon preseason Player of the Year Aleksandravicius had a solid start to her senior campaign with nine points, a game-best 15 rebounds, three assists, three steals and a pair of blocks.

Hannah Early (Huntersville, N.C.), playing for the first time since missing almost all of last year, dropped in 11 points off the bench. Barbara Sitton (Richmond, Va.) filled the stat sheet with five points, five steals, four boards and a game-high nine assists.

UNC had four players reach double digits with freshman Xylina McDaniel dropping in 18 points to lead the way. She also pulled in 12 rebounds for a double-double, while Waltiea Rolle had 11 points and 12 rebounds for her own double-double.

The Wildcats were forced into 27 turnovers, which resulted into 38 UNC points, while they were outscored in the paint 56-24.

Davidson hung tough against the aggressive Tar Heels in the early goings, grabbing a 9-7 lead on an Aleksandravicius jumper with 12:14 on the clock. Then after UNC regained the lead at 13-9, the Wildcats rattled off an 11-4 run that was started and end by three-pointers from Early and Katrin Chiemeka (Marienthal, France) for 20-17 advantage with a little more than nine minutes left in the half.

The 'Cats' offense went cold though during a near six-minute span that allowed the Tar Heels to score 10 unanswered points for a 27-20 led, before Dakota Dukes (Raleigh, N.C.) scored her first two collegiate points to stop the run with 3:36 to go. UNC pushed its lead out 33-24 before the break, with Jasmine Calin (Miami, Fla.) scoring the only two Wildcat points after Dukes before the break.

Murray and the 'Cats found their offense again out of the halftime break, running off a 10-2 spurt as the sharp-shooter canned a pair of triples to bring the 'Cats back from a nine-point deficit to knot things up a 35-all three minutes into the new half.

An Aleksandravicius trey tied it up one last time at 40-apiece, but UNC's defense clamped down and used its big run to push away.

Davidson awaits its next opponent in the second round of the preseason Women's NIT.

GAME NOTES: This was the fourth meeting all-time between the in-state schools and third time both teams have faced each other in their season openers … Davidson is 8-26 in season openers all-time … since the program restarted in 1992-93, the Wildcats have opened on the road or a neutral site 18 times … Aleksandravicius needs 201 more points and 68 more rebounds to be the program's all-time leader in both categories.