A 28-point fourth quarter helped the No. 15 UNC women’s basketball team overcome a halftime deficit at Pittsburgh Thursday night, as the Tar Heels finished strong to clinch their sixth win in a row, 72-57. The six consecutive ACC wins are the program’s most since the 2012-13 season.

The Tar Heels’ “Big 3” of Alyssa Ustby, Kennedy Todd-Williams and Deja Kelly combined for 61 of the team’s 72 points. Kelly netted 23, her most in an ACC game this season, on 7-14 shooting. Ten of her 23 came in the first quarter alone, and UNC needed every one of them to keep up with the hot Panthers, who shot 57.1 percent in the opening 10 minutes to lead 21-19.

Both teams went cold in the second quarter, and though Carolina’s defense stiffened, the offense managed just 10 points to enter the locker rooms trailing by four. Six points from Kelly and five from Todd-Williams helped to even the score at 44 apiece heading into the fourth quarter, and that’s when the Tar Heels turned on the jets.

Carolina opened the final period on a 17-1 run, burying the Panthers in a 61-45 deficit, capped off by a Todd-Williams layup on a fast break. Pitt didn’t make a field goal in the quarter until the 4:05 mark. All 17 of UNC’s points in the run came from Ustby, Kelly and Todd-Williams. Todd-Williams finished with a career-high 22 points, just two weeks after she’d set her previous career high with 21 at Virginia. Ustby grabbed 11 rebounds to go along with her 16 points to post her first double-double of the conference season.

Eva Hodgson was forced to miss the game with a non-COVID illness, meaning sophomore Destiny Adams was elevated to a starting role. She fouled out with no points in 18 minutes, and UNC’s only scoring contributions outside its Big 3 were six points from Anya Poole and five points from freshman Paulina Paris. Alexandra Zelaya and Teonni Key played but did not score.

Thursday night’s win bears a striking resemblance to UNC’s last road ACC win at Virginia, even down to the 28 points scored in the fourth quarter. In that game, the Tar Heels also overcame a sluggish first half and a second-half deficit, while relying on dynamic performances from Kelly, Todd-Williams and Ustby. If it ain’t broke, Courtney Banghart and the Tar Heels aren’t going to fix it.

The team will stay on the road this weekend when it visits Clemson on Sunday at 4 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ACC Network. A win would move Carolina’s road record this season to above .500, and would also keep the Tar Heels in the race for a top 4 seed at the ACC Tournament. UNC currently stands at 7-3 in conference play at 15-4 overall, though it does have head-to-head tiebreakers with the current No. 1 (Duke) and No. 2 (Notre Dame) seeds in the conference.

 

Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Jerome M. Ibrahim

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