Tar Heels Earn 82-76 Win At Minnesota

Wednesday, December 1

Minneapolis, Minn.

9 PM

North Carolina

Minnesota

Alyssa Ustby (1) led UNC with 19 points in Wednesday's win at Minnesota (Photo courtesy Minnesota Athletics)

December 2, 2021 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – With six Tar Heels in double figures, the North Carolina women's basketball team earned an 82-76 win at Minnesota Wednesday night in Big Ten/ACC Challenge play to improve to 7-0 on the season.

The Tar Heels have picked up five of those seven wins away from home, with two neutral-site wins and three true road games, including Wednesday night's back-and-forth battle at Williams Arena.

"When I knew that we had five of our first seven on the road, with three against Power 5 teams, I didn't know where we'd be," UNC coach Courtney Banghart said. "I like where we are."

Carolina returns home on Sunday to host James Madison at Carmichael Arena for a 2 p.m. tipoff.

Sophomore Alyssa Ustby led UNC with 19 points in a return to her home state. The Rochester, Minn., native also added 11 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season. Sophomore Deja Kelly scored 15 points, including a buzzer-beating three-pointer from beyond half court to break a 55-55 tie at the end of the third quarter. UNC went into the fourth quarter up 58-55 and led the rest of the way. Kelly also had a team-high four assists.

Graduate student Carlie Littlefield added 14 points and sophomore Anya Poole had a double-double with 12 points and a career-best 16 rebounds. Eva Hodgson and Kennedy Todd-Williams added 11 points each.

Late in the first quarter, Minnesota led by five, 17-12, UNC's largest deficit of the season. But the Tar Heels closed to tie the score at 17 heading into the second quarter. UNC extended its lead throughout the half, going up by 12 – the Tar Heels' biggest lead of the game – on a jumper by Ustby with 1:34 to play in the period. UNC still led by double digits, 39-29, at halftime.

Ustby had 15 points at halftime, her highest score in a half this season and equal to the single-half high by any Tar Heel. (Kelly also had 15 in a half, the second, in her homecoming trip to Texas in the Nov. 21 win at TCU.)

In the third quarter, the Golden Gophers quickly cut into the lead with hot three-point shooting, hitting four of five from long-range to make it a one-point game, 46-45, midway through the period. The home team took a one-point lead with 38 seconds to play in the third, but Todd-Williams tied the score with a free throw and then Kelly's long three put UNC up for good.

"It's always great to get a big road win against another very good team," Banghart said. "It was one of those games that we didn't finish well, we didn't shoot well and every time we got a lead they bounced back and gave us some good fight. It was just a really gritty effort."