Tar Heels Top Wake Forest In OT

Sunday, December 20

Chapel Hill

1:00 PM

North Carolina

Wake Forest

The Tar Heels celebrate as time expires in UNC's overtime win on Sunday.

Photo by: Grant Halverson

December 20, 2020 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: UNC Athletic Communications

CHAPEL HILL – The North Carolina women's basketball team squeezed in a few extra minutes of playing time Sunday afternoon before its upcoming holiday break, beating Wake Forest 77-74 in overtime at Carmichael Arena. It was the first extra-time game this season for the Tar Heels, who improved their record to 7-2 overall and 2-2 in Atlantic Coast Conference play while avenging a road loss to the Demon Deacons (4-3, 1-2) 10 days ago.

"We stayed together through it all, made the right plays and got a W," senior Janelle Bailey said. "Sometimes you just have to find a way and today we found a way."

Bailey led UNC with 19 points and 12 rebounds, both team highs, for her second double-double in the past three games. Freshman guard Alyssa Ustby scored 15 points, all of which came after halftime. (She had seven in the fourth quarter and four in overtime.) Freshman Kennedy Todd-Williams came off the bench for 10 points and 10 rebounds, her second career double-double and first in ACC play. Graduate guard Petra Holešínská also hit double figures with 14 points, seven of which came in a 52-second span to close the third quarter.

Wake Forest was led by 22 points from Jewel Spear, who hit six of her 12 three-point attempts. Alexandria Scruggs chipped in 16 points and Gina Conti had 12. Ivan Raca finished with 11 points and a team-high nine rebounds.

UNC now goes 11 days before its next game, on Dec. 31 at Syracuse. The Tar Heels don't play at home again until more than a week into 2021, with Miami set to visit Carmichael on Jan. 10.

On Sunday, the Demon Deacons jumped out to an early lead, shooting 50 percent (8-16) from the field and capitalizing on eight Tar Heel turnovers to take a 22-10 lead by the end of the first quarter. Raca scored the first five points of the second quarter to make the Wake advantage 17 before the Tar Heels started to climb back in. A three-pointer from Holešínská capped a 20-2 Tar Heel run to erase the visitors' lead and put UNC up by one, 30-29, with 1:56 to play before halftime.

Wake closed the half with threes from Conti and Spear to lead by five at the break. The Demon Deacons' largest margin of the third quarter was seven, 45-38 with 3:24 to play, but by the time the period ended Carolina was up four, thanks to that late run by Holešínská, who chalked up a four-point play after being fouled on a made three-pointer and then hit another three 33 seconds later.

The Tar Heels continued to build their lead and were up by 10, 59-49, at the 8:20 mark after a three-point play by Bailey. WFU clawed back and went up by three, 66-63, on a Conti three-pointer with 2:33 to play. The Demon Deacons scored just once more in the period while UNC got three of four free throws from Todd-Williams down the stretch and a lay-up from freshman Deja Kelly to make it 68 all. A three-point attempt from Holešínská bounced off the rim as regulation expired.

Ustby scored 31 seconds into OT and North Carolina never gave up the lead. The freshman from Rochester, Minn., assisted on the next basket by Bailey then scored again to put UNC up by six. The Tar Heels balanced two Wake Forest three-pointers with free throws by Holešínská (2-2) and Todd-Williams (1-2) down the stretch. Spears' final three-pointer came with seven seconds and made the margin three, 77-74. Conti's attempt to tie the game at the buzzer was off the mark.

"In a possession game it comes down to who makes plays at the end and we made plays at the end this time," said UNC coach Courtney Banghart, contrasting the game with her team's three-point loss in Winston-Salem on Dec. 10. "The more we can play the better and we got five extra minutes so we're grateful for that."

After eight turnovers in the first quarter, the Tar Heels committed just six over the remaining 35 minutes of the game to finish with 14.

UNC took 31 foul shots, equal to its high in ACC play, after managing just nine in the loss in Winston-Salem.

"We've got to make sure we don't make the same mistakes twice," Banghart said. "The last time we played these guys we had nine free throws. We weren't going to live with that stat again and we had 31 today. Not making the same mistakes twice is critical for a team that wants to have success right away."