Women's Basketball Falls To Wolfpack In Raleigh

Sunday, February 21

Raleigh, N.C.

Noon

North Carolina

NC State

Petra Holešínská had 13 points and tied for the team rebounding lead with seven in Sunday's loss.

Photo by: Dana Gentry

February 21, 2021 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: UNC Athletic Communications

RALEIGH, N.C. – Four players scored in double figures and the Tar Heels finally got hot from three-point range, but it wasn't enough to power the UNC women's basketball team to a second upset win of the year over No. 4 NC State as the Wolfpack won 82-63 at Reynolds Coliseum.

"A disappointing performance which led to a disappointing result," UNC coach Courtney Banghart said. "It was a tale of two halves for us, but we got down in too big of a hole to too good of a team."

The Tar Heels fall to 11-9 overall and 6-9 in Atlantic Coast Conference play with the loss. Next up is the final home game of the season, Thursday at Carmichael Arena against Georgia Tech. Tipoff is 6 p.m.

The Wolfpack (15-2, 10-2 ACC) jumped out early and led 19-8 after the first quarter. It was the Tar Heels' second-lowest offensive output in a quarter this season as they went 0-for-7 from three-point range and made four of 16 shots from the field.

The shooting woes continued as UNC was 0-for-5 from three-point range in the second quarter and then missed their first four after halftime. The Tar Heels were 0-16 from three when Petra Holešínská finally knocked one down with 1:35 to play in the third quarter.

Holešínská finished 2-for-7 from long range. She scored 13 points and tied for the team lead in rebounds with seven. Freshman Deja Kelly led UNC with 14 points, her second double-figure scoring game in a row. Senior Janelle Bailey had 12 points and freshman Alyssa Ustby scored 10. Stephanie Watts scored seven points, added seven rebounds and led UNC in assists with five.

Jakia Brown-Turner led NC State with a career-high 25 points, hitting four of her five three-point attempts. Kayla Jones had 20 and Elissa Cunane finished with 17 points, including 7-for-7 free throw shooting, and 14 rebounds.

The Wolfpack shot 44.9 percent from the field to UNC's 35.3 percent and outrebounded the Tar Heels 46-39.

The Tar Heels did shoot better as the game went on, hitting 45.7 percent of shots after halftime compared with 24.2 before and nailing four of seven three-point attempts in the fourth quarter.

"We didn't shoot well for sure, but I don't love a lot of the shots we took in that first half," Banghart said. "Some of them were open and we need to make those, but if you think about how we generate looks, there's a rhythmic way to play basketball and we were out of rhythm for sure in the first half."