Women's Basketball Pulls Off Comeback Win In ACC Opener

Sunday, December 19

Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Noon

North Carolina

Boston College

Carlie Littiefield scored a game-high 22 points in Sunday's win at BC. (Photo courtesy of BC Athletics)

December 19, 2021 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – After trailing by as many as 15 points early in the fourth quarter, the No. 25 UNC women's basketball team mounted a late comeback to open Atlantic Coast Conference play with a road win, 76-73 at Boston College.

Sophomore Deja Kelly's pull-up jumper with 10 seconds to play put the Tar Heels up by one, 74-73, and she calmly sank two free throws with nine seconds on the clock for the final margin. UNC is 10-0 on the season heading into Tuesday's home game against Alabama State. Tipoff is 1 p.m. at Carmichael Arena.

Graduate student Carlie Littlefield was Carolina's leading scorer with a season-high 22 points, including 9-for-9 free throw shooting. Kelly scored 19 and Eva Hodgson added 15 off the bench in a return to her home turf.

"I have a no quit group," UNC coach Courtney Banghart said. "This team proved to be so resilient, and trusting, throughout a hard-fought battle. What a gritty win that was, and certainly a game we'll learn a lot from. We didn't play our best, but we found a way to win anyway. We're thrilled to be headed home with an ACC victory."

UNC trailed through most of the game, with an eight-point lead in the first quarter the Tar Heels' largest of the afternoon. After not having trailed by more than five points at any point in the first nine games, Carolina was down by the largest margin of the season, 15 points, with 9:48 to play at Conte Forum.

The Tar Heels continued to inch back and an Eva Hodgson three-pointer, one of just three by UNC on the day, at the 5:15 mark put the game in single-digits for good, 66-58. Littlefield hit four free throws over a 30 second span to make it a four-point game, 66-62, with 4:40 remaining. A Destiny Adams jumper capped a 9-0 UNC run to make it a two-point game, 66-64.

But the Eagles battled back and again pulled ahead by as many as seven, and they led 73-66 with 2:23 to play.

From that point on, it was all Tar Heels, as UNC came up with the final 10 points of the game. The run started with an Adams free throw, five in a row by Littlefield (a three-point play then a lay-up), and then the final four points by Kelly, whose gamewinner came with two defenders on her and put the Tar Heels up for the first time since early in the second quarter.

Today was a fun one 👣🏀 🔹 Overcame a 15-point deficit in the final 9:48 to win by 3, 76-73 🔹 10-0 for the 9th time in school history (1-0 in ACC play) 🔹 Leading the ACC in scoring margin, rebounding margin, turnover margin and assist/tov ratio#GoHeels | #InPursuit pic.twitter.com/vMGatKW4ME
— Carolina Women's Basketball (@uncwbb) December 20, 2021

UNC got the ball back down one, 73-72, with 13.8 seconds to play after Hodgson drew a charge under the BC basket. Kelly's shot came with 10.2 seconds remaining, and she then picked off the Eagles' in-bounds pass and was quickly fouled. The turnover was BC's 27^th of the day and ultimately (after a lengthy review of the clock) put Kelly on the foul line for two, which she made, with 9.1 seconds remaining. BC missed a three-pointer that would have tied the score in the final seconds.

Carolina had trailed for less than 18 minutes over the course of the season's first nine games, but the Tar Heels were behind for 30 minutes of Sunday's game as BC shot 50.9 percent from the field, marking the first time this season a Tar Heel opponent has been above 40 percent.

UNC shot 39.3 from the field (24-61) and hit just three of 15 three-point attempts, but made a season-high 25 free throws in 30 attempts.