Tar Heels Win In OT At Georgia Tech

Thursday, January 23

Atlanta, Ga.

6 PM

North Carolina

14-5,5-3ACC

Georgia Tech

14-5,5-3ACC

OT 1

North Carolina

Georgia Tech

Photo by: Georgia Athletics

January 23, 2020 | Women's Basketball

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By: UNC Athletic Communications

ATLANTA – North Carolina outscored Georgia Tech 13-6 in overtime, including seven points by senior guard Madinah Muhammad, to earn a crucial Atlantic Coast Conference women's basketball road win Thursday evening, 67-60 at McCamish Pavilion. The Tar Heels improved to 14-5 overall and 5-3 in ACC play with the victory. Georgia Tech has an identical record following its loss, making the win a particularly critical one in terms of the ACC standings.

"Georgia Tech is such a good team," UNC coach Courtney Banghart said. "We knew that and at their place, we knew it was going to be a battle. They're the best defensive team, we're the best offensive team, and we wanted to show out our defensive effort. I thought we were good defensively.

"All of these games are so important. This is a team that's in the top five in the ACC with us, so it's a huge head-to-head battle and we only play them once, so it's a really big win."

Junior Janelle Bailey led UNC with 20 points – including a 10-for-10 performance from the foul line – and 11 rebounds for her 10^th double-double of the season and 36^th of her career. Muhammad finished 17, senior guard Shayla Bennett had 12 points and a team-high eight assists, and freshman Malu Tshitenge had 10 points and nine rebounds. Bailey, Bennett and senior guard Taylor Koenen played all 45 minutes for the Tar Heels.

Next up for North Carolina is a game on Sunday at No. 8 NC State. Tipoff at Reynolds Coliseum is 6 p.m.

UNC spotted the Yellow Jackets a 6-0 lead and trailed by eight points early, with as many turnovers as points (five of each) in the first five minutes of play. The Tar Heels came out of the media timeout midway through the quarter on a 6-0 run to close the gap, but still were down 21-16 at the end of the first 10 minutes.

In the second period, the Jackets again opened up a 8-point advantage, but the Tar Heels got rolling at the end of the period with a 7-0 run going into halftime, when they were down just one, 26-25. Georgia Tech didn't score for the final 4:07 of the second quarter, a period during which the Tar Heels got two buckets from Bailey and a three from Muhammad.

Bailey led UNC with 10 points in the first half, while Muhammad had eight, but also had three fouls. After five turnovers in the first five minutes of play, the Tar Heels committed just three in the final 15 minutes before halftime.

A jumper by Koenen 25 seconds into the third quarter gave UNC its first lead of the game at 27-26 and the Tar Heels didn't trail in the period after that, stretching their lead to six at two points late in the quarter, the second on a steal and layup by Koenen with 31 seconds to play in the quarter. The Jackets answered to cut the UNC lead to four heading into the final 10 minutes of regulation.

In the fourth quarter, Georgia Tech scored four quick points to tie the score at 43-43 with 7:50 to play. The Jackets regained the lead with just under five minutes remaining and the game was back and forth through the rest of the period, with UNC leading by three after two Bailey free throws with 21 seconds in regulation. Tech's Kierra Fletcher nailed her only three-point attempt of the game with 11 seconds on the clock to send the game into overtime.

The extra period was the first of the season for both teams, and both were coming off losses and trying to avoid their first back-to-back defeats of the season. UNC led throughout the five-minute overtime, with the final margin equal to the Tar Heels' largest lead of the game.
Muhammad was two-for-two and the Tar Heels shot 50 percent from the field and made all four free throws while outrebounding the home team 6-2, with three of those boards by Bailey.

This marked the sixth game in a row in which the Tar Heels have trailed at halftime, and the third time in that span they've come to back to win. It's the second conference road win of the season for UNC, which will play two at home following Sunday's battle in Raleigh.

A sizeable – and vocal – portion of the 1,200 fans in attendance Thursday were wearing Carolina blue and cheering for the Tar Heels, providing a boost as the game came down to the wire. "The Tar Heel faithful have really showed up for this team all year, and not just at home but now on the road," Banghart said. "It's been awesome."