Records were broken for The Hurricanes (15-5) at the Watsco Center on Thursday night.
Miami scored 100 points in a game, a feat that had not been achieved since 2011.
Senior Jessica Thomas scored a career high of 24 points.
The Hurricanes defeated the University of North Carolina Tar Heels (18-3) at home for the first time since 2013 with a whopping 100-88 final score.
Although Tar Heels fans filled the stands in light blue and white, by the fourth quarter it was obvious that orange and green were the superior colors of the night.
The Hurricanes had to play without Senior Adrienne Motley due to a family emergency, but her teammates were able to pull through and win the game.
“This feels so different without Adrienne there,” Shaneese Bailey said. “We have to play for her.”
Thomas added that, despite the previous loss, she heard the pregame speech that talked about the “fire in our hearts” and she knew the game had to be won for Motley.
“If she could be, she would be here,” Thomas said.
Even without the co-captain, the Canes were able to get ahead in the third quarter and maintain it. Thomas had a 9-0 run in the third quarter and the Tar Heels could not recover. Laura Cornelius scored a total of 19 points and Keyanna Harris and Shaneese Bailey both ended the game with 17 points each.
Bailey set the tone of the game by scoring nine shots in the first few minutes. When asked about what was going through her mind, she said: “I just felt inspired by the coach’s speech and was inspired to play.”
The redshirt freshman did not think she would be playing Thursday night due to feeling sick the day before.
“I couldn’t eat anything and I was throwing everything up,” she said. “I didn’t know if I could play, I just kept on pumping myself up.”
This game was not won without difficulties. Both teams left to the locker rooms with a tie game at 44-44.
When asked about what happened during halftime, Coach Katie Meier said, “Carolina’s tricky and they’re young, but their coaching staff did a phenomenal job… but our players just took the game over after halftime.”
Thomas even called Motley at halftime for a few words of encouragement.
“She told me ‘JT, you have to stay in the attack,’” she said. “I don’t even remember the scores or anything, I was just playing.”
Despite the loss, the Tar Heels’ players entered double digit points territory. Paris Kea scored a total of 26 points and made 12 out of 18 field goals. Destinee Walker scored 23 points and made 4-4 three pointers. Jamie Cherry totaled at 22 points, making five out of seven free throws.
The Hurricanes will play against Boston College at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 29 at the Watsco Center in Coral Gables.
Alina Zerpa is a senior majoring in journalism and psychology, a major Oreo enthusiast and spends way too much time on Tumblr.
