Coach Courtney Banghart’s first Triangle rivalry game ended in celebration for the Tar Heels Thursday night as the North Carolina women’s basketball team handed No. 9 N.C. State its first loss of the season, 66-60. At Carmichael Arena, a trio of seniors led the way for UNC as Shayla Bennett scored 20, Taylor Koenen had 14 points and a team-best 11 rebounds and Madinah Muhammad added 13 points.
“I just couldn’t be happier for the kids,” said Banghart, in her first year at the Tar Heel helm. “Everybody had a role in that win on both sides of the ball. [N.C. State] is a really good team, it’s not just a good few players, so we needed a full team. Our mantra tonight was ‘Us versus them.’ Just so happy for the kids that our ‘us’ was good enough tonight.”
With the win, UNC improved to 12-3 overall and 3-1 in ACC play, while N.C. State fell to 14-1 overall and 3-1 in the ACC. Next up for Carolina is a trip to face No. 11 Florida State in Tallahassee on Sunday.
The Tar Heels went into Thursday’s game trying to bounce back from their first ACC loss, on Sunday at Virginia Tech. UNC trailed by six points after the first quarter to the Wolfpack and by as many as 14 during the second. At halftime, N.C. State led 38-28 behind 13 points from Aislinn Konig. The senior guard hit five of her seven shots, including three three-pointers, before halftime. As a team, N.C. State shot 53.6 percent in the first half.
The Tar Heels remained down by 10 midway through the third period, but they closed the quarter on a 10-0 run – made up of six from Koenen and four from Bennett – to make it a tie game heading into the fourth. Then, the Wolfpack quickly went up by two on a pair of free throws, but Bennett tied it on a layup and Muhammad gave UNC its first lead since midway through the opening period with two foul shots that made the score 50-48 with 8:14 to play.
Bennett then hit another, assisted by junior Janelle Bailey, who finished with eight points and seven rebounds and played standout defense on N.C. State center Elissa Cunane. The Wolfpack’s leading scorer came into the game averaging 17.5 points but left with just eight on 3-for-11 shooting. Two of her baskets came in the final three minutes, as she twice cut the UNC lead to two, but Carolina answered each time. Konig hit a three with 26 seconds to play to make it a three-point game, 63-60, but the Tar Heels went 3-for-4 from the foul line in the closing seconds for the final margin, which sent the bench spilling onto the court in celebration.
Banghart credited the team’s defense as a big part of the comeback.
“You can’t be great if you can’t defend,” Banghart said. “I give these guys a lot of credit for how we defended tonight.”
It is the second year in a row that Carolina has handed N.C. State its first loss of the season. The two will meet again in Raleigh on Jan. 26.
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