The No. 17 UNC women’s basketball team picked up its fifth ranked win of the season Thursday night in Chapel Hill, handing No. 13 Duke its first ACC loss, 61-56. Carolina has now won four straight after starting conference play 0-3, and its five wins over ranked opponents are the most in the country.
Final! 💥 #GoHeels | #GDTBATH pic.twitter.com/pwUq48ku6b
— Carolina Women's Basketball (@uncwbb) January 20, 2023
The game was played in front of a record amount of students, as more than 1,500 piled into Carmichael Arena. It wasn’t quite a sellout, but still saw over 5,000 fans create another raucous atmosphere.
“I just want to give a shout-out to our crowd,” UNC head coach Courtney Banghart said after the game. “I want all of them to be my friends. They are so fun.”
Everyone in light blue was having fun early, as Carolina jumped to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter. The Tar Heels weren’t exactly lighting it up with their shooting, but the Blue Devils couldn’t find the bottom of the net until the 2:07 mark of the period. Similar to Sunday’s game against NC State, the two teams combined to shoot just 6-24 (25 percent) in the first 10 minutes.
Carolina led by seven points after the first quarter, but saw that lead slip away and even trailed briefly in the second, as Duke outscored the Tar Heels 16-9. Carolina made just three total shots in the quarter and entered halftime tied at 21.
“Defensively, they’re really good,” Banghart said of the Blue Devils (Duke boasts the No. 3 scoring defense in the country). “What we really asked our guys to do is play with space and hunt assists.”
Banghart’s halftime adjustments paid off in spades, as Carolina appeared a brand-new team to open the second half. The Tar Heels scorched the nets to the tune of a 9-10 clip, using a 15-3 run to take a 40-31 lead into the fourth quarter.
“We haven’t gone 9-10 in a while,” Banghart said. “The combination of good offense and good defense gave [us] the little run [we] needed in a game like this.”
To Banghart’s point, Carolina swiped four steals in the third quarter and nine for the game. Junior Alyssa Ustby tied for the team lead with three, though her availability was in doubt earlier in the day.
“She was hooked on an IV this morning,” Banghart said. “I got that text first thing in the morning and I was like, ‘Oh, God.'”
Fortunately for the Tar Heels, Ustby tested negative for both COVID and strep and was ready to go by game time. She showed no ill effects from the scare, scoring 16 points (10 in the third quarter) on 8-11 shooting, grabbing five rebounds, dishing out three assists and grabbing the three aforementioned steals.
“There was just no option for me,” Ustby said. “I’m not missing out on an opportunity to beat Duke.”
“If you have to coach grit, and if you have to coach competitiveness,” Banghart said, “you’ve recruited poorly.”
After Ustby carried the Tar Heels through the third quarter, Deja Kelly took over in the fourth. Despite again not shooting above 50 percent, Kelly turned it on in crunch time, scoring nine of her 19 points in the final 10 minutes. That included a pair of jumpers in the final 2:27 to stave off repeated rallies by the Blue Devils. She added a blown kiss after her last basket for good measure.
“She was guarding me kind of tight,” Kelly said of the play. “It was a message. A friendly one.”
Carolina shot 15-20 in the second half, by far its best half of the season. Kelly’s final basket, along with free throws in the last few seconds, successfully put away a Blue Devil team which subsisted almost entirely on free throws to stay in the game late. UNC’s Kennedy Todd-Williams was saddled with four fouls in the fourth quarter alone, disqualifying her in the final moments. Carolina was whistled for 15 team fouls in the quarter.
Despite the unsightly end, it was another unforgettable evening in Carmichael Arena for Banghart and her players. The game marked the first time in program history the team has beaten a ranked NC State team and a ranked Duke team in consecutive games.
“Coming here, this is what we were trying to grow Carolina back to be,” Kelly said. “Seeing that support that we’re getting here in our gym, it just means a little more. It makes us want to play harder. I couldn’t even hear myself think it was so loud. It’s surreal how much this place has grown.”
“It’s a big deal to have that many fans there,” said Banghart. “I don’t even know how to thank them. But it felt real.”
Featured image via UNC Women’s Basketball on Twitter
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.
Comments on Chapelboro are moderated according to our Community Guidelines