University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Georgia Tech
No. 8 Tar Heels Fall to Georgia Tech, 71-70, in ACC Opener
January 6, 2011 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 6, 2011
Final Stats |
AP Photo Gallery 
ATLANTA (AP) - Metra Walthour hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 23.6 seconds remaining, Tyaunna Marshall scored 24 points and Georgia Tech beat No. 8 North Carolina 71-70 on Thursday night.
Jessica Breland, who missed a jumper at the buzzer, hit a pair of free throws to give the Tar Heels (15-1, 0-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) a seven-point lead at the 1:40 mark, but North Carolina didn't score again.
"When you're up by seven with a minute to go, you're not supposed to lose, but this is probably an indication of how the ACC will be," Tar Heels coach Sylvia Hatchell said. "We've got to regroup because we have to play at Boston College on Sunday."
Georgia Tech (13-4, 1-0) has won 10 straight. The Yellow Jackets scored eight points in the final minute on Marshall's 3-pointer, Deja Foster's basket and Walthour's 3.
Italee Lucas led North Carolina with 21 points and Breland finished with 15.
Alex Montgomery added 13 for Georgia Tech, which won its third straight at home over North Carolina, but beat the Tar Heels for the just third time in the last 17 meetings.
"We set the schedule up the way we did because we want a better seed in the NCAA tournament," Georgia Tech coach MaChelle Joseph said. "To get a better seed, you've got to play ranked teams and you've got to beat them. We've got a lot more ranked teams to play, but obviously this is a great start for us."
Montgomery, who usually leads the Jackets in scoring, had little room to get off a shot against North Carolina's box-in-one defense. But she still found plenty of ways to help, pulling down a game-high nine rebounds.
North Carolina, which ranked in the top 10 in NCAA rebounding margin, was outworked 39-29 on the boards.
"Coach kept telling us that we have to box out," Montgomery said. "You can't out-jump them. You have to box out, and that's what we did."
fter Frida Fogdemark's 3-pointer put Georgia Tech ahead 55-51 with 9:13 remaining, the Tar Heels went on a 17-6 run that ended on Breland's transition jumper.
North Carolina called two timeouts in the final 3.7 before Breland's 14-footer missed the rim and the Yellow Jackets started celebrating.
After Foster scored, she stole a pass in Georgia Tech's full-court press defense and fed Walthour for a 3 from the left corner.
"I could see that we had numbers," Walthour said, "and the first thing she said to me when she passed it was, `Knock it down."'
Georgia Tech's 10-game winning streak is its longest under eighth-year coach Joseph. The Jackets haven't lost since dropping three straight to Connecticut, Georgetown and Tennessee.
