North Carolina At Chapel Hill

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – February 22nd, 2024

Five Tar Heels hit double figures as the North Carolina women’s basketball team knocked off No. 6 NC State Thursday night, 80-70 at Carmichael Arena. The victory is UNC’s highest-ranked win of the season and improved Carolina to 18-9 overall, 10-5 in Atlantic Coast Conference play.

“Any win in the ACC is a great win,” said UNC coach Courtney Banghart, whose team had lost four in a row before now reeling off three straight wins “This is a resilient group and I’m happy for them.”

Graduate student Lexi Donarski scored 23 points, matching her high as a Tar Heel, hitting five three-pointers on nine attempts. Senior Alyssa Ustby scored 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for her 15th double-double of the season and fifth in the past six games.

Junior Maria Gakdeng scored 12, including six in the fourth quarter when she went 3-3 from the field.

Senior Alexandra Zelaya scored a career-high 12 points off the bench on a career-best four three-pointers. Sophomore Indya Nivar added 11, also off the bench as the Tar Heels got their highest production from the nonstarters (23 points) in more than a month.

NC State jumped out front early and held its biggest lead of the game, seven, midway through the first quarter. But the Tar Heels closed the period with a 7-0 run and led 22-20 heading into the second.

Coming into the game, UNC hadn’t won the second quarter in a single ACC game this season, tying once and trailing in the other 13. This time, the Tar Heels managed to extend their lead, going into halftime up seven, 42-35. It marked Carolina’s highest score in an ACC first half this season.

NC State got as close as three at two points in the third quarter, the second on a three by Saniya Rivers to make it 54-51 with 3:07 remaining in the period. But the Tar Heels closed out the quarter with seven points in a row to take a double-digit lead into the fourth.

The home team held its biggest lead of the game, 14, after a Donarski three with 7:30 to play. NC State got within eight after that but never closer as the Tar Heels avenged a four-point loss in Raleigh three weeks ago.

UNC tied its season high with 11 three-pointers on 21 attempts for a .524 shooting percentage from long range, the team’s best of the year.

Senior Deja Kelly got into triple-double territory with nine points, eight assists (equaling her career high) and seven rebounds. She also had three steals and didn’t commit a single turnover in 38:23 on the court.

As a team, UNC went from its highest number of turnovers – 24 ­– in Sunday’s win at Wake Forest to committing just seven on Thursday, the season low in ACC play and one away from the lowest of the season.

Aziaha James led the Wolfpack (23-4, 11-4) with 24 points, while Mimi Collins added 11 points and 10 rebounds. Rivers finished with 13 points and Madison Hayes had 11.

The win was UNC’s fourth of the season over a ranked team, with all four coming in ACC play. Thursday’s game was the first of two in a row against top-10 teams, with a game at No. 8 Virginia Tech coming up on Sunday.
Notes:
• The victory gives UNC 10 ACC wins for the third year in a row and the 24th time in program history.