No. 3 NC State Hands WBB First Home Loss

Sunday, January 30

Chapel Hill

4 PM

North Carolina

16-4,6-4ACC

NC State

19-2,10-0ACC

NC State

North Carolina

Kennedy Todd-Williams led UNC with 15 points against NC State.

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

January 30, 2022 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The North Carolina women's basketball team fell at home for the first time this season on Sunday, 66-58 to No. 3 NC State. The Tar Heels led throughout the first half at Carmichael Arena, but the Wolfpack used a 23-point third quarter to take the lead and hold on for the victory.

NC State, No. 3 this week in both national polls, improved to 19-2 overall and stayed perfect in Atlantic Coast Conference play with its 10^th win. UNC, which is No. 22 in the coaches' poll and second among teams receiving votes in the AP poll, fell to 16-4 overall and 6-4 in ACC play. All four losses have come against higher-ranked teams, three of them on the road.

The Tar Heels played on Sunday with more than 50 former players in attendance for Alumni Day. They were part of the season's largest crowd to date, with more than 4,000 fans and a packed student section charging the Carmichael atmosphere. "It was a great environment for college basketball, a great display of two really good teams," UNC coach Courtney Banghart said.

An incredible game, but we came up just short today. Highlights from today's game vs NC State ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/zZbQII8fY9 — Carolina Women's Basketball (@uncwbb) January 30, 2022

Sophomore guard Kennedy Todd-Williams led UNC with 15 points for her fifth-straight double-figure scoring game. Four games ago, Todd-Williams scored 15 points against Virginia to set a new career high. She's equaled that twice since then, including on Sunday, when 11 of her points came in the first half and she was 6-9 from the field overall. She added seven rebounds and two assists. Carlie Littlefield scored 12 points and had a team-high three assists to go with four rebounds. Alyssa Ustby led UNC in rebounds with eight to go with eight points.

The Tar Heels jumped out to a 5-0 lead on a three by Littlefield 28 seconds into the action and then a pair of free throws by Anya Poole. UNC's lead stretched to as many as nine in the first quarter, first on a free throw by Ustby with 2:22 to play in the period (15-6) and then, after NC State's Kai Crutchfield drove for a lay-up to make the margin seven, on a driving lay-up by Ustby with 1:10 to play. Ustby ended up on the ground after that one, but she gave her team a 17-8 lead. Crutchfield, who led her team with 16 points on the day, responded with a three to again trim the margin. The Tar Heels led 19-13 at the end of the first period.

UNC again started hot in the second quarter, scoring the first six points of the period on threes by Todd-Williams and Ustby. Ustby's three gave Carolina a 12-point lead, 25-13. That was the Tar Heels' largest advantage of the game, and they held it again after Todd-Williams scored off her own offensive rebound with 7:55 to play in the period, 27-15.

The Tar Heels had their last double-digit lead of the game after a three from Eva Hodgson, assisted by Todd-Williams, at 33-23 with 2:10 to play before halftime. UNC carried a 33-27 lead into the locker room.

NC State opened the third quarter with a 14-0 run to take the lead for good. The Wolfpack moved ahead on a three by Elissa Cunane with 7:06 to play in the period, 36-33, and continued to roll. A three-pointer by Raina Perez with 3:17 to play gave NC State a 13-point lead (48-35), its largest of the game. After that, the Tar Heels put together a seven-point run to get back to six points, 48-42 after a lay-up by Ustby.

The Wolfpack again opened the lead to as many as 14 points in the fourth quarter, but the Tar Heels never went away and cut the margin to five points (63-58) with 1:24 to play after a pair of free throws by Littlefield. Crutchfield responded with a three 12 seconds later for what would stand as the final score. Four Wolfpack players finished in double figures, with Jakia Brown-Turner (13), Cunane (11) and Perez (10) joining Crutchfield. Cunane led all players with 12 rebounds and Kayla Jones had 11 as the visitors won the rebounding battle, 41-36.

After shooting 29.4 percent in the first quarter, NC State ended at 44.1 percent for the game, shooting over 50 percent in the third and four quarters. UNC shot 32.3 percent for the game and was 5-23 from three, but hit 11 of 14 free throw attempts to make up some of that ground.

The game was the second meeting of the season for the two teams, with the first a lopsided 72-45 NC State win in Raleigh earlier this month in which Carolina shot a season-low 23.1 percent. "We knew the version of us we showed at their place wasn't the version we wanted people to remember," Banghart said. "So we thought we took care of that (tonight). But you can't shoot so poorly for stretches of the game and expect to beat a really good team."

UNC now hits the road but doesn't leave the state, traveling to face Wake Forest Thursday night. It's the third matchup in a row with in-state ACC rivals, following Thursday's win at Duke and then Sunday's game, in which the Tar Heels definitely appreciated the comforts of home.

"That was an awesome environment," Littlefield said. "Our fans really showed out, it was really loud. We showed a lot of fight and we stuck together. They hit some big shots but we just kept fighting. That was just a really fun game – obviously I wish it was a different result but I'm just really proud of everybody."