No. 17 North Carolina women hold on to beat Miami 66-65

Feb 22, 2015, 05:39 pm

CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- Stephanie Mavunga scored 14 points and grabbed 14 rebounds and No. 17 North Carolina held on to beat Miami 66-65 on Sunday.

North Carolina (22-6, 9-5 ACC) remains in sixth place in the conference, while Miami (18-9, 8-6) drops into a tie with Pittsburgh for seventh.

Leading 64-62 with :28 left, UNC's Allisha Gray tried to shoot between Erykah Davenport and Jessica Thomas and Davenport got the block, leaving the door open for Miami.

Yet the Hurricanes could not get off a shot despite calling two timeouts. Davenport threw a cross-court pass to Necole Sterling, who caught it out-of-bounds with 3.1 seconds left. Davenport quickly fouled Jamie Cherry, who made a pair of free throws. The Hurricanes' Jessica Thomas then banked in a half-court 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Gray finished with 15 points for North Carolina.

Michelle Woods scored 18 points to lead four in double figures for Miami.