Carolina overcame a flurry of turnovers and some hot three-point shooting by Syracuse to beat the Orange 68-58 Thursday night in the JMA Wireless Dome. It keeps the Tar Heels a perfect 8-0 in true road games, the team’s best such record since the 2005-06 season.

UNC never trailed, leading 15-12 after the first quarter and 35-25 at halftime. That lead grew to as large as 15 points early in the third quarter, but the Orange made six threes in the period to whittle the deficit down to as little as five points at 48-43. Syracuse shot 6-8 on threes in the third quarter and 9-16 for the game.

That surge would be as close as the Orange would get, though, as UNC pushed its lead back out to 10 points by the beginning of the fourth quarter and maintained it until the final buzzer. The effort came even as the Tar Heels turned the ball over 10 times in the fourth quarter alone against Syracuse’s pressure defense; the 20 total turnovers are UNC’s most in a single game since committing 26 against Duke on January 9.

Maria Gakdeng led all scorers with 21 points and added 14 rebounds to notch her third double-double of the season. Trayanna Crisp scored 12 points off the bench and Indya Nivar finished with 11. Ciera Toomey scored three points while making the first collegiate start of her young career; the redshirt freshman started in place of Alyssa Ustby, who did not make the trip to Syracuse after sustaining a knee injury against NC State. Though head coach Courtney Banghart did not set a timetable for Ustby’s recovery, she did say the fifth-year forward would return this season.

“She’ll be back soon,” Banghart told the Tar Heel Sports Network’s Matt Krause before the game. “She understands it’s for the betterment of her that we’re gonna make sure that she’s alright.”

The win improves UNC to 24-4 overall and 12-3 in ACC play. Tar Heels will be back in action when they visit Louisville on Sunday at 2 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.

 

Featured image via UNC Women’s Basketball on Twitter

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