The Blue Devils had numerous opportunities to win, but missed opportunities led to an overtime loss for Duke Women’s Basketball on the road at UNC.

Duke Basketball entered the first women’s Tobacco Road rivalry matchup of this season winning four straight games in ACC play. Unfortunately, that streak ended Sunday after the 15th-ranked Blue Devils lost 92-86 to an unranked UNC team in Chapel Hill.

It’s always bad when any Duke team loses to North Carolina, but the way Duke WBB lost this game was extremely disappointing. The Blue Devils started great, leading by as many as 19 in the first half. It looked like a rout early for Duke, but UNC was able to pull within eight points at halftime. The second half was much tighter, and North Carolina dominated in the overtime period to earn the win.

Duke had numerous chances to win down the stretch, but they simply weren’t able to get it done. The team led for most of the game, and was up 70-65 with 1:25 left in regulation. Then things started falling apart for the Blue Devils. Duke lost two turnovers and went 2-8 from the free throw line, including key misses from Lexie Brown and Rebecca Greenwell, two of the top guards and best free throw shooters in the ACC, and a miss by Greenwell with 0:09 seconds left to go up four. Instead, UNC made a three to tie the game at 72 with one second left and rode that momentum into overtime where they outscored Duke 20-14.

The Blue Devils were 15-23 at the free throw line for the game and gave up a total of 26 turnovers to only 20 assists. They were unable to figure out UNC’s zone defense, which allowed the Tar Heels to climb back into the game. 92 points is also a season high allowed by the defense this season.

Duke was led by Haley Gorecki’s 29 points and a double-double from Brown recording 19 points and 10 rebounds. However, UNC guard Paris Kea went off for 36 points against the Blue Devils.

The loss drops the Blue Devils to 15-5 overall and 4-3 in conference play. Next, Duke Women’s Basketball will host Pitt on Thursday night.