UNC Women's Basketball Loses at Syracuse for 2nd Straight Defeat

A disastrous third quarter sunk the UNC women’s basketball team at Syracuse Thursday night. The Tar Heels saw a halftime lead over the Orange evaporate, as the hosts scored 31 points in 10 minutes to turn the game on its head. Carolina outscored Syracuse by seven points in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough in a 75-67 loss, UNC’s second straight.

The 31 points are the most given up in a single quarter by the Tar Heels in ACC play this season. By comparison, the Orange only scored 32 points in the entire first half, which ended with Carolina up 34-32. Junior guard Deja Kelly scored 19 of UNC’s 34 first-half points and ended with a career-high 32, but only scored two points in the game-changing third quarter. As a team, the Tar Heels scored just 14 while allowing Syracuse to shoot 12-15 (80 percent) from the floor. The Orange didn’t shoot above 50 percent in any other quarter.

Carolina once again played without the services of junior Alyssa Ustby, who traveled to Syracuse but missed her second straight game. The Tar Heels missed Ustby’s presence on the glass in a big way, losing the rebounding battle 43-29 and allowing 18 second-chance points. Carolina’s 29 rebounds are tied for its fewest in a game this season.

Graduate guard Eva Hodgson continues to miss time due to what the program is describing as an “upper-body condition.” Hodgson hasn’t played since January 22. Carolina once again struggled from downtown without its three-point ace, shooting just 6-25 on three-pointers against the Orange. In their last three games, the Tar Heels are a combined 10-48 (20.8 percent) on threes. The program expects Hodgson and Ustby to both return this season.

“The urgency with the young guys isn’t what it needs to be,” said head coach Courtney Banghart. “We’ve got some guys that should be playing supportive roles, and we lost some key pieces… but it’s really hard to win at this level. And the urgency that requires, it’s not showing itself consistently enough.”

“If they want to help this team, and they want more minutes, we’re gonna expect a lot out of them,” Kelly said. “They just have to be willing to listen and follow… that’s what we were missing tonight.

“I don’t want to make the excuse that they’re young. We know that. But also, we know that [we’ll] need them eventually, down the line.”

The team’s injury situation potentially got even worse Thursday night, as junior forward Anya Poole exited late in the third quarter with an apparent injury and did not return to the game. Poole has started every game for Carolina dating back to the beginning of last season. Only she and junior guard Kennedy Todd-Williams share that honor.

Carolina’s two consecutive losses drop it to 17-7 overall and 8-5 in the conference, with a double-bye in the ACC Tournament now much more of a long shot. The Tar Heels sit in seventh place in the league standings, and each of the four teams ahead of them own the head-to-head tiebreaker.

The Tar Heels will be back in action on Sunday when they host Boston College in Carmichael Arena at 12 p.m.

Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Jeffrey A. Camarati

Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our biweekly newsletter.

UNC Women’s Basketball Loses at Syracuse for 2nd Straight Defeat

On Air Now: 97.9 FM