Paulina Paris is the No. 27 Hoop Gurlz recruit and had already had games of 13, 15 and 15 points entering Sunday. So her career-high 16 on 3-of-4 shooting from three to lead her No. 22 UNC Tar Heels past the No. 4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish wasn’t completely out of nowhere, but it is certainly the most memorable performance of her young career thus far given the circumstances.
Paris stole most of the Irish’s remaining positive energy by single-handedly dueling them over the fist 4:18 of the fourth quarter, a battle she won 11-9, including a key 8-2 stretch that brought it from 40-38 UNC to 48-40 UNC and ensured Notre Dame never got closer than within two in the final frame of an eventual 60-50 loss at Carmichael Arena in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In the remaining 5:42, the Irish never got closer than within five. There was still enough time left when they cut it to five at 4:04, 2:36 and 1:44, but the most spirited stretch of their comeback effort was topped by Paris’ heroics and the rest of the contest was simply a matter of UNC trading baskets and making free throws to seal it.
A Paris three made it 43-38 at the 8:10 mark of the fourth. Then, Olivia Miles made it seem like she was going to find a way to bring Notre Dame back when she threw a dart from beyond the…
