North Carolina looked poised to earn another trip to the Women’s College Cup with a three-goal lead 19 minutes into the game, but aggressive Brigham Young had other ideas. The Cougars scored four goals in the last 30 minutes to rally for a 4–3 victory on a snowy and cold evening in Provo, Utah, and end Carolina’s season. Please click here for more.

UNC’s RJ Davis scored a career high 30 points as the Tar Heels rebounded from a loss the day before by beating No. 20 Arkansas in the consolation game of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas. (11/24)

Carolina, which led by 12 in the first half, lost the lead and trailed at the half 38-35. “We needed to respond after what happened yesterday and after losing the lead in the first half,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said.

The Tar Heels, who fell in overtime to Villanova on Thursday, responded by outscoring the Razorbacks 52-34 in the second half.

There were four lead changes and three ties in the first six minutes of the second half before Davis changed the tone of the game with an off-balanced driving layup while being fouled. After the free throw, the Heels led 51-48.

The Heels never trailed again as the Davis three-point play started a 17-4 run that put them in control at 65-52 midway through the second half.

Arkansas pulled to within six with seven minutes to play but Harrison Ingram hit a turnaround jumper in the lane and Davis followed with a baseline jumper that fouled out Razorback big man Makhi Mitchell.

The lead got as high as 15 at 85-60 on a three pointer by UNC’s Paxson Woycik with 1:22 to play.

The Tar Heels were in control early too but couldn’t sustain it. Carolina took advantage of six early Razorback turnovers to get out to a 12-point advantage. Arkansas’ Tremon Mark, who led all scorers with a career-high 34, got hot hitting eight straight shots to not only get the Razorbacks back in the game but in the lead.

Carolina was playing without starter Cormac Ryan, who twisted his ankle late in the Villanova game. In his place Seth Trimble responded with a career-high 12 points, which included two big threes from the right corner.

The only other Tar Heel in double figures was Ingram, who scored 13, hauled in 10 rebounds and dished out six assists.

The Tar Heels, now 5-1, return home to play seventh-ranked Tennessee on Wednesday.

Three North Carolina players fouled out as the Tar Heels took Villanova to overtime before losing a physical game in overtime 83-81 at the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas. (11/23)

Carolina had no answer for Wildcat big man Eric Dixon, who backed in to score close to the basket or by hoisting the ball in from outside, drilling three three-pointers. He finished with a career-high 34 points to lead all scorers.

And if he, or even other Wildcats, weren’t doing that, he was scoring from the free throw line. Carolina faithful got on the referees much of the game as the more physical team, Villanova, ended up shooting 13 more free throws than UNC did.

UNC coach Hubert Davis seemed to agree with booing and screaming Tar Heel crowd. He even complimented the Wildcat players for taking and selling the fouls.

“We did a good job defensively,” Coach Davis said. “Unfortunately there were some fouls called that put them on the free throw line.”

Indeed there were as Villanova, which shot only 38 percent from the field, was 32 of 36 from the foul line. Carolina, which shot 43 percent, managed only 16 of 23 from the foul line.

The story of the game couldn’t be written without mentioning that UNC’s Harrison Ingram was the scoring leader with 20 when he fouled out with 3:44 to go in regulation. Two of the fouls were highly questionable as replays showed the Villanova player flopped to draw the foul.

“Three of our players fouled out and we had lineups in there who hadn’t had a lot of time together on the floor,” Coach Davis said. “But we had our chances in regulation and overtime.”

Carolina, who led by as many as nine points in the second half, had just a 63-61 lead after an Ingram bucket with 4:07 to go. Villanova’s Justin Moore scored five in a row, putting the Heels in catch-up mode.

That’s just what they did as Cormac Ryan, who scored 18, lofted a swished three-pointer from the left corner to tie the game at 68-all with 38 seconds left.

After a rare Dixon missed shot, Carolina had an opportunity to win it with 3.3 seconds left in regulation. After a timeout, the Heels got it to R.J. Davis for a long three-point attempt but it clanked off the back of the rim and the game went to overtime.

Carolina went into the extra period with Ingram and Jae’lyn Withers, both starters, on the bench with five fouls each. Then Elliott Cadeau fouled out by committing the mortal sin of fouling a three-point shooter. That gave Villanova three more free throws and a 71-70 edge.

The game went back and forth until Moore scored, was fouled and hit a free throw to make it 76-74. And the Heels never tied it or took the lead again.

A desperate intentionally missed free throw by Ryan with 2.6 seconds left and the Heels behind 83-81 failed to hit the rim and that ended Carolina’s chances. To double the anguish, Ryan injured an ankle on the play. There were no updates to his condition.

Davis ended up the high scorer for the Heels, now 4-1, with 23 points. Carolina plays in the consolation game of the tournament at 1 p.m. Friday.

For a boxscore and analysis of the game, please click here.

So as of now, Maye says he intends on playing in the bowl game, wherever it might be against a currently unknown opponent. The task at hand for the Tar Heels is to take care of business against a surging Wolfpack team that has won its last four games. Please click here for more.