UNC Beats Boston College, 72-60

No. 16 UNC women’s basketball pulled out a 72-60 victory over Boston College on Super Bowl Sunday in Carmichael Arena. Behind a career-high game from junior N’Dea Bryant, North Carolina is now ranked 5-3 in the ACC and 18-4 overall. The BC Eagles fall to 9-12 and 1-7 in the conference.

Bryant finished with 13 points, seven rebounds as well as two steals and a blocked shot. Bryant’s minutes have been increasing steadily over the past few games, and head coach Sylvia Hatchell has been looking to her for a consistent mid-range jumper when needed.

“The position she plays, is probably the most important position on the floor,” Coach Hatchell said. “Because if you look up in the rafters, I think half of those jerseys that are honored or retired are kids that have played that position. That’s a major position for how we play – it’s a point-post type of position.”

Bryant had a lot of help that afternoon, however, as Stephanie Mavunga put up 25 points and 14 rebounds and Allisha Gray added 15 points and 15 rebounds. Gray made up for a dismal 2-14 shooting accuracy with 11 made freethrows.

Although Boston College sits at the bottom of the conference, this was no easy victory for the Tar Heels. The Eagles had an eight-point lead over Carolina with 12:37 left in the second half, and they showed no sign of slowing down.

“I thought we were going to get that one there for a while,” BC Head Coach Erik Johnson said. “North Carolina is good and we knew that coming in. But we also know that we can play. We were up at the 12-minute mark and I don’t think we scored in the last seven minutes or so. We had some good looks, we also had some lapses.”

In its the scoring slump, Boston College threw up threes in desperation to catch back up to the Tar Heels, who went on a 13-0 run in the final six minutes. BC missed its last 12 field goals.

But when Boston College was on, they were hot. Sophomores Kelly Hughes and Emilee Daley, as well as junior Nicole Boudreau closed the half with a BC lead with two three-pointers each. Hughes finished the game with 14 points and 11 rebounds, Daley and Boudreau added 13 apiece.

“Every game from here on out is key for us,” Hughes said. “It’s the ACC and we’re going to get every team’s best game every time we step on the floor. We just beat Duke in the top-15 so people have to respect us.”

Carolina suffered from a slump of its own. The Tar Heels did not score a three-pointer until the 19-minute mark of the second half. Brittany Rountree’s only long-range field goal gave UNC a three point lead after trailing 36-34 at halftime. Boston College shot 8-37 from behind the arc.

Carolina is headed up north for two road games against Syracuse and Virginia Tech on Thursday and Sunday. The Orange are tied with UNC in the conference at a 5-3 record and Virginia Tech trails slightly at 4-4.

FINAL BOX SCORE

UNC Beats Boston College, 72-60

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