Two nationally ranked women’s basketball teams — each hoping to bounce back from an upset loss to an unranked foe — will square off at Cassell Coliseum on Sunday.
Seventh-ranked Virginia Tech (11-2, 1-2 ACC) will host 13th-ranked North Carolina (9-3, 0-1) at 4 pm in a game that will be televised by the ACC Network.
The Tar Heels are coming off back-to-back losses. They dropped out of the top 10 of the Associated Press Top 25 poll after suffering a 76-68 loss to nationally ranked Michigan in the Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte, NC, on Dec. 20.
North Carolina then suffered a 78-71 home loss to Florida State on Thursday. The Tar Heels shot just 37.5% from the field in that game, including 17.4% (4 of 23) from 3-point range. Florida State outrebounded UNC 41-31 and scored 37 second-chance points.
UNC’s first loss came at nationally ranked Indiana on Dec. 1 in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.
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Deja Kelly is averaging 15.8 points for North Carolina. Kennedy Todd-Williams averages 14.2 points. Alyssa Ustby averages 14.2 points and 9.6 rebounds. Eva Hodgson averages 13.1 points.
Virginia Tech, which has lost two of its last three games, fell 64-59 at Clemson on Thursday. Coach Kenny Brooks’ Hokies shot just 37.3% from the field and made only 12 of their 20 free throws. They turned the ball over 17 times and were outrebounded 40-32.
Tech also was held under 60 points in its Dec. 18 loss to Notre Dame.
Virginia Tech starting guard Ashley Owusu has been sidelined since she suffered a broken pinkie finger in Dec. 1 win over Nebraska. Only six Hokies played more than one minute in Thursday’s loss at Clemson. Elizabeth Kitley and Georgia Amoore played all 40 minutes in the loss, with Cayla King playing 37 minutes.
Kitley averages 18.7 points and 11.2 rebounds. But she only took seven shots in the loss at Clemson, making four of them.
The Hokies won two of the teams’ three meetings last year, including a 66-61 win in Blacksburg and an 87-80 overtime win in the ACC quarterfinals.
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