The last few seconds of UNC’s win over No. 11 seed St. John’s in the first round of the NCAA Tournament put the madness in March.

A Deja Kelly bucket and free throw had given Carolina a 61-58 lead with two seconds left. After the Red Storm called timeout to advance the ball, the Tar Heels then fouled a St. John’s player in the act of shooting a three-pointer. Kelly vehemently disagreed with the call and had to be restrained by teammates as she argued the foul occurred before the shot. Nevertheless, the call was not reviewable.

But the Red Storm’s Danielle Patterson, an 81 percent foul shooter, missed the first two of the three free throws. With only 1.8 seconds left and St. John’s out of timeouts, all Carolina had to do was inbound the ball cleanly, which they did to secure the back-and-forth, 61-59 victory. The No. 6 seed Tar Heels will face No. 3 seed Ohio State on the Buckeyes’ home court on Monday for the right to advance to the Sweet 16 in Seattle.

Kelly’s final basket gave her a game-high 18 points. She, Kennedy Todd-Williams and Alyssa Ustby each scored in double figures, though Ustby had to watch the final minutes from the bench after fouling out in the fourth quarter. It soured what had been a momentous day for Ustby, who reached the 1,000-point plateau and was also celebrating her 21st birthday.

The scoring was paltry outside of Carolina’s starters, but the five bench points were of the utmost importance. An and-1 layup from true freshman Paulina Paris tied the game at 54 with 1:59 remaining, and a pair of free throws from redshirt freshman Teonni Key gave Carolina a two-point lead 40 seconds later. Both Paris and Key were playing in their first-ever NCAA Tournament games.

UNC found itself in need of a late rally after leading by as many as 12 points early in the second half. That lead evaporated as the Red Storm scored 21 points in the third quarter — 12 of which came on free throws — and exploded early in the fourth. St. John’s used a 13-3 run to take a 54-49 lead with 3:57 to go, ironically capping it off with a basket from Patterson. Patterson scored 11 of her 13 points in the fourth quarter, and the Tar Heels are sure grateful she left it at that.

The win is Carolina’s 50th NCAA Tournament victory in team history, making them just the 10th program in Division 1 to achieve this feat. It’s also head coach Courtney Banghart’s third in her four seasons with the Tar Heels. Tip-off for Monday’s second-round game has not yet been scheduled.

 

Featured image via UNC Women’s Basketball on Twitter

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