University of North Carolina Athletics
Even when everything was going wrong in Sunday's game at BC, the Tar Heels stayed together. (Photo courtesy of BC Athletics)
Finding A Way To Win
December 20, 2021 | Women's Basketball
Talk about a growth experience.
In a season when UNC women's basketball coach Courtney Banghart has tried to create a variety of learning opportunities for her young team, the Tar Heels were gifted on Sunday with one they couldn't have produced for themselves. That's the positive way to look at it, anyway.
Playing the Atlantic Coast Conference opener against Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Mass., UNC struggled to find its groove and 12 seconds into the fourth quarter was trailing by 15 points. Through the first 30 minutes of the game, the Tar Heels shot 35.6 percent (to BC's 52.3 percent) and were outrebounded 33-18 while coping with foul trouble.
"Everything that can go wrong went wrong," Banghart said.
Yet the 25th-ranked Tar Heels walked out of Conte Forum as winners. The 76-73 victory over BC made Carolina 10-0 overall and 1-0 in ACC play while delivering another dose of experience to a team that starts four sophomores and a grad transfer playing her first season in Carolina blue (or navy with Carolina blue accents, as was the case on Sunday). The comeback was historic: it's the largest fourth-quarter deficit Carolina has overcome since the women's game went to quarters in 2015-16 and it gave UNC a fourth win on the road before the holiday break for the first time in program history.
"I'm really proud that this is not a team that wants to win and talks about winning and clicks their heels and tries to win, it's a team that finds a way," Banghart said. "And this was a perfect example of that."
UNC trailed at the half for the first time this season, 40-33, after BC shot 64.3 percent from the field in the second quarter. The Eagles were beating UNC 21-13 on the boards. Things did not look good for the visitors. Carlie Littlefield, the aforementioned point guard and one of the team captains, summarized Carolina's halftime discussion this way:
Banghart: Is that the best you can play?
Team: No.
Banghart: Was that playing to our principles?
Team: No.
Banghart: I need you to come out and prove how tough you are.
Her team eventually answered her on the court, erasing BC's late lead to win by three. Littlefield finished with a UNC-best 22 points (11 of them in the fourth period) and was 9-for-9 from the foul line (seven of them in the fourth) to pace the Tar Heels to a crucial and season-best 25-30 free throw performance.
The 83.3 percent shooting from the charity stripe was a good example of Carolina doing what it took to pull out the win. UNC was 12-13 from the line in the fourth period, thriving when the pressure was on.
After trailing by 15, a margin three times greater than any other deficit this season, Carolina cut into the BC advantage and whittled the lead down to two points with four minutes to play. But the Eagles opened their lead back up to seven, and they still held that advantage at 73-66 with 2:33 to play.
The never-say-die Tar Heels capped the game with a 10-0 run, which started with a free throw by freshman Destiny Adams, who gave her team three points and six valuable minutes in the fourth quarter, and continued with a three-point play and a lay-up from Littlefield.
The final four points came from Kelly, who said after the game that she's comfortable having the ball in her hands with the pressure on. Her demeanor certainly suggests that, and teammates agree: "This is a bucket," Littlefield told Kelly prior to the game-winning shot.
"I just have so much trust in her and I love playing with her," Littlefield said.
Kelly repaid that trust, calmly delivering on a pull-up jumper with 10 seconds remaining to put UNC up 74-73. Then she picked off BC's in-bounds pass (one of three steals for her and 17 for the Tar Heels), was quickly fouled and then hit two free throws with 9.1 seconds to play to make it 76-73, the final score.
"We really stayed together and stayed connected, and I think that's what helped us pull through," Kelly said.
With less than 48 hours until their next game, on Tuesday at 1 p.m. at home against Alabama State, the Tar Heels made a quick turnaround to get showered, changed and onto the bus, with a postgame meal of takeout Italian food to refuel. But with the celebratory mood still coursing through the group as the bus started rolling, they had a request for their coach: "Can we stop for ice cream?"
As a mom to three kids under age 8, Banghart is no stranger to such pleas. But in this case it was 14 "kids" asking, enough to create a lengthy line even if the place was empty to begin with, and there was a plane waiting.
Banghart said yes anyway.
In a season when UNC women's basketball coach Courtney Banghart has tried to create a variety of learning opportunities for her young team, the Tar Heels were gifted on Sunday with one they couldn't have produced for themselves. That's the positive way to look at it, anyway.
Playing the Atlantic Coast Conference opener against Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Mass., UNC struggled to find its groove and 12 seconds into the fourth quarter was trailing by 15 points. Through the first 30 minutes of the game, the Tar Heels shot 35.6 percent (to BC's 52.3 percent) and were outrebounded 33-18 while coping with foul trouble.
"Everything that can go wrong went wrong," Banghart said.
Yet the 25th-ranked Tar Heels walked out of Conte Forum as winners. The 76-73 victory over BC made Carolina 10-0 overall and 1-0 in ACC play while delivering another dose of experience to a team that starts four sophomores and a grad transfer playing her first season in Carolina blue (or navy with Carolina blue accents, as was the case on Sunday). The comeback was historic: it's the largest fourth-quarter deficit Carolina has overcome since the women's game went to quarters in 2015-16 and it gave UNC a fourth win on the road before the holiday break for the first time in program history.
"I'm really proud that this is not a team that wants to win and talks about winning and clicks their heels and tries to win, it's a team that finds a way," Banghart said. "And this was a perfect example of that."
UNC trailed at the half for the first time this season, 40-33, after BC shot 64.3 percent from the field in the second quarter. The Eagles were beating UNC 21-13 on the boards. Things did not look good for the visitors. Carlie Littlefield, the aforementioned point guard and one of the team captains, summarized Carolina's halftime discussion this way:
Banghart: Is that the best you can play?
Team: No.
Banghart: Was that playing to our principles?
Team: No.
Banghart: I need you to come out and prove how tough you are.
Her team eventually answered her on the court, erasing BC's late lead to win by three. Littlefield finished with a UNC-best 22 points (11 of them in the fourth period) and was 9-for-9 from the foul line (seven of them in the fourth) to pace the Tar Heels to a crucial and season-best 25-30 free throw performance.
The 83.3 percent shooting from the charity stripe was a good example of Carolina doing what it took to pull out the win. UNC was 12-13 from the line in the fourth period, thriving when the pressure was on.
After trailing by 15, a margin three times greater than any other deficit this season, Carolina cut into the BC advantage and whittled the lead down to two points with four minutes to play. But the Eagles opened their lead back up to seven, and they still held that advantage at 73-66 with 2:33 to play.
The never-say-die Tar Heels capped the game with a 10-0 run, which started with a free throw by freshman Destiny Adams, who gave her team three points and six valuable minutes in the fourth quarter, and continued with a three-point play and a lay-up from Littlefield.
The final four points came from Kelly, who said after the game that she's comfortable having the ball in her hands with the pressure on. Her demeanor certainly suggests that, and teammates agree: "This is a bucket," Littlefield told Kelly prior to the game-winning shot.
"I just have so much trust in her and I love playing with her," Littlefield said.
Kelly repaid that trust, calmly delivering on a pull-up jumper with 10 seconds remaining to put UNC up 74-73. Then she picked off BC's in-bounds pass (one of three steals for her and 17 for the Tar Heels), was quickly fouled and then hit two free throws with 9.1 seconds to play to make it 76-73, the final score.
"We really stayed together and stayed connected, and I think that's what helped us pull through," Kelly said.
With less than 48 hours until their next game, on Tuesday at 1 p.m. at home against Alabama State, the Tar Heels made a quick turnaround to get showered, changed and onto the bus, with a postgame meal of takeout Italian food to refuel. But with the celebratory mood still coursing through the group as the bus started rolling, they had a request for their coach: "Can we stop for ice cream?"
As a mom to three kids under age 8, Banghart is no stranger to such pleas. But in this case it was 14 "kids" asking, enough to create a lengthy line even if the place was empty to begin with, and there was a plane waiting.
Banghart said yes anyway.
Comeback win = postgame ice cream stop 🏀🍦👍 pic.twitter.com/aeiEmRzU9J
— Carolina Women's Basketball (@uncwbb) December 19, 2021
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