A pair of clutch baskets from Reniya Kelly in her return to the court helped UNC overcome a poor shooting day and defeat No. 4 seed Florida State in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals in Greensboro Friday. The Tar Heels will advance to the ACC semifinals for the first time since 2014.

“There’s a toughness to this group and a togetherness to this group and a courage to this group that was on display tonight,” head coach Courtney Banghart said afterward.

The Tar Heels opened the game on the front foot, leading by as many as 11 points in the first quarter and taking a 22-12 edge into the second. But UNC went ice-cold in the second, missing its first 14 shots from the floor in the period as the Seminoles took the lead. Florida State outscored Carolina 19-5 in the quarter and led 31-27 at halftime.

“Florida State is formidable,” said Banghart. “They’ve got elite talent. They’ve got versatility. They’ve got great coaching. That’s just a really tough team to beat.”

Carolina then took advantage of a Seminole cold spell early in the third quarter, taking a 37-32 lead as Florida State went the first 4:28 of the period without a made field goal. Though the Tar Heels wouldn’t trail for the rest of the afternoon, they never led by more than five points.

A layup from Florida State’s Ta’Niya Latson – the nation’s leading scorer who hit a buzzer-beater to beat the Tar Heels in January – tied the game at 54-54 with 2:11 remaining. That basket turned out to be the Seminoles’ final made shot of the day, as UNC’s defense allowed only two more points on a pair of Latson free throws.

On the other end, Kelly made a layup and a mid-range jumper in the final 1:04 to give UNC a four-point lead. The clutch makes came after Kelly had endured a poor shooting performance overall; she was 3-13 from the field before the final sequence.

“It was time for Reniya to do what she does,” Banghart said. “So yeah, we drew up both of those [plays] for her. It makes me look really smart when she makes them.”

“I would risk my whole body to be on the court with my team,” said Kelly, who had missed the previous four games with an injury. “Obviously I missed a lot of shots tonight, but that didn’t down my confidence or make me hesitant about it, so I just kept shooting and trusting my work that I put in.”

Alyssa Ustby posted a powerful double-double, scoring 12 points and grabbing 18 of UNC’s 53 overall rebounds to help the Tar Heels dominate the glass. As a team, Carolina finished with a 53-40 rebounding advantage. Lexi Donarski tied Ustby for the team lead with 12 points, while Kelly added 11 and Indya Nivar 10. Latson finished with just 13 points on 3-14 shooting.

UNC is now 27-6 overall. The Tar Heels will return to the court Saturday at noon in the ACC semifinals against either No. 9 seed Georgia Tech or No. 1 seed NC State.

 

Featured image via UNC Women’s Basketball on Twitter

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