It wasn’t the prettiest win Thursday night in Carmichael Arena, but they all count. The No. 20 UNC women’s basketball team fought off a tough challenge from Virginia in Chapel Hill to secure the team’s 15th win of the season, though the Cavaliers made the Tar Heels sweat until the very end.
That's a final ⤵️#GoHeels x @WellsFargo pic.twitter.com/DjpNRjHBM9
— Carolina Women's Basketball (@uncwbb) January 21, 2022
From a standings perspective, the game was a mismatch. Carolina sat in fifth place in the ACC standings coming into Thursday, while Virginia sat in 14th. Nonetheless, the Cavaliers, coached by Hall of Famer Tina Thompson, kept pace with Carolina throughout. Virginia capitalized on offensive rebounds and eight first-half turnovers by UNC to keep the deficit to just 12 points at halftime.
“We weren’t super sharp today,” UNC head coach Courtney Banghart said. “But as I told [the players]… we’re not gonna let a not-sharp effort impact how good we think we can be when we focus on the right things.”
Much of Banghart’s frustration came from Virginia’s second-chance opportunities. The Cavaliers sliced a Carolina lead which was as large as 17 points down to seven in the fourth quarter, on the strength of 10 offensive rebounds in the final period alone. Virginia grabbed 23 offensive boards in total, which led to 20 second chance points.
Such gaudy numbers, combined with not-so-gaudy offensive metrics for Carolina, made it a close game until the final buzzer. In what could be a troubling trend, the Tar Heels shot under 40 percent for the sixth time in seven ACC games, after doing so just twice in 10 non-conference games.
“There’s an ebb and flow to the season, and we got certainly down to an ebb,” Banghart said.
Still, Carolina’s most consistent player on the year continued to flourish. Sophomore guard Deja Kelly extended her double-digit points streak once again, scoring a team-high 18 points, while also adding four rebounds and four steals. Kelly currently ranks third in the ACC at 17.9 points per game.
Kelly’s backcourt partner, sophomore Kennedy Todd-Williams, continued her string of strong scoring efforts, pouring in a season-high 15 points against the Cavaliers and knocking down all eight of her free throws. Todd-Williams has now reached double digits in five of her last seven games.
“It’s really fun playing with her, because she just works so hard,” Kelly said of Todd-Williams. “She works really hard for her buckets. She gets out in transition. It’s really easy to pass it up to her, and her just finish or get to the free throw line.”
Carolina also saw the return of reserve guard Eva Hodgson, who missed the Notre Dame game on Sunday due to COVID protocols. But Hodgson struggled in her return, scoring a season-low three points. With only Kelly and Todd-Williams in double figures, Carolina once again ended with a relatively low score. The Tar Heels have failed to reach 70 points in three of their last four games, after doing so only once in the first 13. Thursday’s game was also just the second time this season in which the Tar Heels made fewer than 20 field goals, along with the loss to NC State.
It could be another low-scoring affair in Carolina’s next game. UNC will travel to Atlanta on Sunday to take on No. 18 Georgia Tech, whose scoring defense is best in the country. The Yellow Jackets allow just 46.3 points per game, and have a win over perennial power Connecticut to their name this season. Georgia Tech will also be looking to avenge a 25-point defeat to the Tar Heels last season. Carolina is still in pursuit of its first win over a ranked opponent this season.
“We know we have another opportunity on Sunday to be better,” Banghart said. “And we will work hard to be.”
Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications
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