University of North Carolina Athletics
Sunday, January 9
Chapel Hill
6 PM
North Carolina
71
vs
46
Virginia Tech
Eva Hodgson scored 19 points, her high as a Tar Heel, on Sunday against Virginia Tech.
Photo by: ANTHONY SORBELLINI
WBB Earns Homecourt Win Over Virginia Tech
January 9, 2022 | Women's Basketball
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The North Carolina women's basketball team bounced back from its first loss of the season in a big way on Sunday evening, beating Virginia Tech 71-46 at Carmichael Arena to hand the Hokies their first Atlantic Coast Conference loss of the season.
No. 19 UNC improved to 14-1 overall and 4-1 in ACC play. Virginia Tech fell to 11-4 (3-1).
Four Tar Heels scored in double figures led by junior Eva Hodgson, who came off the bench for a season-high 19 points. She hit a season-high four three-pointers on just five attempts and was 6-for-8 from the field overall.
Sophomore guard Deja Kelly scored 15 points, which was not unusual for her as the only Tar Heel to reach double figures in every game this season. What was usual for her was a team-best 10 rebounds – she'd never led the team in rebounds during her time as a Tar Heel, and with the career high on the boards she notched her first career double-double.
Sophomore Alyssa Ustby finished with 13 points and equaled her career highs for assists (six) and blocks (two). Anya Poole, also a sophomore, scored 12 points, grabbed eight rebounds and played admirable defense on Virginia Tech standout Elizabeth Kitley, who still scored 14 points to lead her team. Kitley also had 17 rebounds as the Hokies just edged the Tar Heels on the boards, 39-37.
The Tar Heels broke the game open in the second quarter, when they shot .583 from the field (7-12) and outscored the Hokies 19-7 to jump out to a 35-17 halftime lead. They kept rolling in the third, eventually pulling ahead by as many as 32, courtesy of a 14-0 run that put Carolina up 53-21 with 2:14 to play in the period.
Virginia Tech missed its first 16 attempts from three-point range before Cayla King hit her first late in the third quarter. The Hokies, who came into the game ranked second in the ACC in three-point percentage at .374, finished 4-24 (.167) from long range for the night.
UNC led 34-16 in points in the paint, 25-13 in points off turnovers and 16-0 in fast-break points. It marked the first time this season the Tar Heels have held an opponent to zero points in transition.
Carolina was coming off its first loss of the season, 72-45 on Thursday at No. 5 NC State. The Tar Heels had two days of practice to prepare for the Hokies and, just as importantly, figure out how to get back to the way they wanted to play following their all-around worst game of the season.
"Thursday night's game didn't sit well with anyone on our team – it's not how you want to play against a ranked team," Hodgson said. "But we learned from it, we watched a lot of film and we attacked practice the next two days."
Which led to Sunday being, as Hodgson put it, "a lot of fun." The lopsided victory was UNC's first against the Hokies in Chapel Hill since the 2015-16 season.
"We have a ton of respect for Virginia Tech – I think it's one of the very best teams on our schedule," UNC coach Courtney Banghart said. "Really experienced, really talented, good players at every spot. We said before the game we wanted this to be a return to 'us.' Our process is what it is and you want every step to be forwards, and that's not always the way it works. You have to endure some steps backwards and (the NC State loss) was a step backward that we had to endure. But we didn't let it waver in who we are and what we do, and our guys showed it tonight – we just beat a really good team pretty convincingly by playing both ends really solidly together."
After a bye for this week's Thursday slot, UNC returns to action on Sunday at Notre Dame.
No. 19 UNC improved to 14-1 overall and 4-1 in ACC play. Virginia Tech fell to 11-4 (3-1).
Four Tar Heels scored in double figures led by junior Eva Hodgson, who came off the bench for a season-high 19 points. She hit a season-high four three-pointers on just five attempts and was 6-for-8 from the field overall.
Sophomore guard Deja Kelly scored 15 points, which was not unusual for her as the only Tar Heel to reach double figures in every game this season. What was usual for her was a team-best 10 rebounds – she'd never led the team in rebounds during her time as a Tar Heel, and with the career high on the boards she notched her first career double-double.
Sophomore Alyssa Ustby finished with 13 points and equaled her career highs for assists (six) and blocks (two). Anya Poole, also a sophomore, scored 12 points, grabbed eight rebounds and played admirable defense on Virginia Tech standout Elizabeth Kitley, who still scored 14 points to lead her team. Kitley also had 17 rebounds as the Hokies just edged the Tar Heels on the boards, 39-37.
The Tar Heels broke the game open in the second quarter, when they shot .583 from the field (7-12) and outscored the Hokies 19-7 to jump out to a 35-17 halftime lead. They kept rolling in the third, eventually pulling ahead by as many as 32, courtesy of a 14-0 run that put Carolina up 53-21 with 2:14 to play in the period.
Virginia Tech missed its first 16 attempts from three-point range before Cayla King hit her first late in the third quarter. The Hokies, who came into the game ranked second in the ACC in three-point percentage at .374, finished 4-24 (.167) from long range for the night.
UNC led 34-16 in points in the paint, 25-13 in points off turnovers and 16-0 in fast-break points. It marked the first time this season the Tar Heels have held an opponent to zero points in transition.
Carolina was coming off its first loss of the season, 72-45 on Thursday at No. 5 NC State. The Tar Heels had two days of practice to prepare for the Hokies and, just as importantly, figure out how to get back to the way they wanted to play following their all-around worst game of the season.
"Thursday night's game didn't sit well with anyone on our team – it's not how you want to play against a ranked team," Hodgson said. "But we learned from it, we watched a lot of film and we attacked practice the next two days."
Which led to Sunday being, as Hodgson put it, "a lot of fun." The lopsided victory was UNC's first against the Hokies in Chapel Hill since the 2015-16 season.
"We have a ton of respect for Virginia Tech – I think it's one of the very best teams on our schedule," UNC coach Courtney Banghart said. "Really experienced, really talented, good players at every spot. We said before the game we wanted this to be a return to 'us.' Our process is what it is and you want every step to be forwards, and that's not always the way it works. You have to endure some steps backwards and (the NC State loss) was a step backward that we had to endure. But we didn't let it waver in who we are and what we do, and our guys showed it tonight – we just beat a really good team pretty convincingly by playing both ends really solidly together."
After a bye for this week's Thursday slot, UNC returns to action on Sunday at Notre Dame.
A rainy evening in Chapel Hill, so only fitting it was raining threes inside Carmichael tonight 😎
Highlights from tonight's win ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/L5fGcTxWKH— Carolina Women's Basketball (@uncwbb) January 10, 2022
Players Mentioned
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