CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Two days after recording the first ACC victory in program history, the Navy women's basketball team came out Monday night at the University of North Carolina looking to add a second ACC victory to its resume on its current road trip. Unfortunately, for the Mids (2-1), the Tar Heels (2-0) had a different idea and controlled the matchup from opening tip to the final buzzer on their way to a 80-40 victory at home in Carmichael Arena. North Carolina used its advantages in size, speed and physicality to jump out to a 20-point lead in the first quarter and never looked back.
 
"I think that same dream and belief that helped our players beat Clemson on Saturday put a lot of pressure on them tonight," remarked head coach Stefanie Pemper postgame. "I'm not sure we realized that we were the underdogs coming into this game. Anyone that saw tonight's game would've seen that we just weren't executing well. That's definitely a credit North Carolina; their two bigs really gave us a ton of trouble down low, specifically against our zone. The game had little flow, so in the second half we tried to find that flow. If we were going to make some mistakes we wanted to make mistakes of playing hard instead of being tentative. I think that worked a little bit. We wanted them [UNC] to make forced errors instead of unforced errors.
 
"I was really impressed with [Janelle] Bailey, down low and [Taylor] Koenen as a guard. We're not going to face a lot players like Bailey, but we will face some good bigs in the Patriot League so we have some work to do. In terms of Koenen, we have to find someone that wants to get up for and accept the defensive assignment of guarding a talented scorer like that. We'll learn from tonight, for sure. Overall, we just got beat by the better team tonight."
 
After a slow start in which Navy opened 0-3 from the field, Montana Braxton (Sr., Cape Elizabeth, Maine) ended the Mids' draught with a step-back jumper at 7:17 to make it 4-2 North Carolina. That pace continued as the Tar Heels scored four of the next six points to go up 8-4. Jennifer Coleman (So., Richmond, Va.) made Navy's basket during this span. From that point at 6:15, UNC went on a 15-0 run over 4:00 to go up 23-4. Over the remaining two-plus minutes of the first quarter, the Tar Heels went on to extend their lead to 20 points, 29-9. Leading factors in UNC's substantial lead was a field goal percentage of 68.8 percent (11-16) and zero turnovers.
 
Navy opened the second quarter with a quick run of success on offense as Sophie Gatzounas (Jr., South Hadley, Mass.) sank a pair of baskets to cut it to a 31-13 deficit with 7:37 showing on the clock. After the Tar Heels' lead bubbled up to 28 points at 41-13 by the 4:48 mark of play, the Mids fought back with a brief 6-0 run on the strength of field goals by Laurel Jaunich (Sr., Charlotte, Vt.), Coleman and Lindsay Llewellyn (Fr., North East, Md.). Unfortunately for Navy, 22 points was as close as it would get for the rest of the first half as UNC concluded the period with eight unanswered points to go into the halftime intermission up 48-19.
 
For the half, UNC outshot Navy 59.4 percent (19-32) to 31.0 percent (9-29). Of their 48 points, the Tar Heels netted 26 in paint of the opening half.
 
The third quarter opened with North Carolina outscoring Navy, 14-3 over the first 5:06 of play. Nyah Garrison (Fr., Brookhaven, Pa.) connected for her first collegiate point via foul shot at 4:26 to later make it 60-23. Another freshman Mimi Schrader (Plymouth, Minn.) also broke into the box score with a pair of successful free throws down the stretch in the period. After 30 minutes of play the hosts held a 69-25 lead.
 
Navy had its most bountiful quarter of play in the fourth as the team recorded 10 points over the first 4:15 of action. Llewellyn was at the forefront of this effort with a layup and three-pointer in quick succession at 8:52 and 8:06. With the score 76-35, the teams combined for nine points for the remainder of the game, five for Navy and four for UNC to send the game final at 80-40. The Mids' defense was particularly effective in the fourth quarter as they forced five Tar Heel turnovers and were credited with four steals.
 
For the game, UNC held a 52.7 percent (29-55) to 26.3 percent (15-57) advantage in field goal shooting and a 44.4 percent (4-9) to 23.5 percent (4-17) lead in three-point shooting. In the Tar Heels' 27 trips to the foul line, they made 18 free throws (66.7%), while the Mids were six of 11 for a 54.5 percent mark.
 
UNC finished with a substantial advantage in rebounds, 45-27. Gatzounas led Navy's effort on the boards with seven rebounds.
 
"We have talent and we have depth, but we're inexperienced," concluded Pemper. "Going forward it's going to have to be about togetherness, communication and playing as a team. Clemson zoned us the whole game on Saturday. Tonight you saw how taller, faster, stronger players can affect our offense in man-to-man. In the zone you don't have to deal with that same level of physicality. We were free on Clemson and we shot the ball well. Tonight with UNC playing man-to-man that definitely made a difference. Their pressure affected us. We can definitely be better in situations like this moving forward. Tonight was a learning experience for us."
 
After playing three games in six days, Navy will have a brief break in the action as the team will be off from competition until Friday, Nov. 22 at the University of Vermont.