WBB Suffers Season's First Loss, 72-45 At NC State

Thursday, January 6

Raleigh, N.C.

8 PM

North Carolina

13-1,3-1ACC

NC State

13-2,4-0ACC

North Carolina

NC State

Carolina fell to 13-1 with a loss on Thursday night at NC State.

Photo by: ANTHONY SORBELLINI

January 6, 2022 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

RALEIGH, N.C. – The North Carolina women's basketball team suffered its first loss of the season on Thursday night, falling 72-45 at NC State. The fifth-ranked Wolfpack improved to 13-2 overall and 4-0 in Atlantic Coast Conference play while No. 19 UNC fell to 13-1 (3-1).

The Tar Heels are back in action on Sunday evening, hosting Virginia Tech at 6 p.m. at Carmichael Arena.

Sophomore guard Deja Kelly led UNC with 21 points, her fourth 20+ game of the season. Classmate Alyssa Ustby finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds for her seventh double-double of the year.

Senior center Elissa Cunane led NC State with 19 points and was the only Wolfpack player in double figures, but five others scored seven points or more. Cunane also led the team in rebounds with 13 as NC State outrebounded Carolina 53-40, marking just the third time this season that the Tar Heels have been beaten on the boards.

The home team led from the start, racing out to a 10-0 lead from which UNC never recovered. The Tar Heels only got back within single digits once, when Kelly hit a jumper at the 5:20 mark to make it 10-2, but NC State scored the next seven in a row and eventually opened up a 24-7 lead by the end of the quarter.

Both teams scored 16 points in the second quarter, with Kelly accounting for eight of those for UNC and the team shooting 33.3 percent (6-18) from the field, its best percentage in a period all evening. The Wolfpack led 40-23 at halftime, just the second time this season the Tar Heels have trailed at the break. (The other was at Boston College, when UNC came back to win.)

Carolina never got closer than that 17-point halftime margin, shooting .182 percent (6-33) in the second half. The Tar Heels finished the night with season lows for points, field goals (15), field goal percentage (.231) and assists (four).