WBB Tops Pitt 64-54 At Carmichael

Thursday, February 10

Chapel Hill

6 PM

North Carolina

19-4,9-4ACC

Pittsburgh

11-12,2-10ACC

Pittsburgh

North Carolina

Photo by: Jerome M. Ibrahim

February 10, 2022 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – No one will dub Thursday's game against Pitt the Tar Heels' best-played game of the season, but as North Carolina coach Courtney Banghart and her players noted afterward, a win is a win. With that victory, 64-54 over the visiting Panthers, No. 23 UNC improves to 19-4 overall and 9-4 in ACC women's basketball play

Nine conference wins is Carolina's highest total since 2015. Next up for the Tar Heels is a Sunday afternoon game at Virginia Tech.

"It got a little sloppy at times and a little scrappy," said sophomore guard Deja Kelly, who led UNC with 17 points. "It was just two tough teams going against each other and obviously we won that battle."

Kelly's total included 8-for-8 free throw shooting, as the Tar Heels shot 76.9 percent (20-26) from the line.

Eva Hodgson came off the bench for 14, hitting double-figures for the first time in more than a month, since she scored a season-high 19 in a win over Virginia Tech on Jan. 9. Hodgson was 4-5 from the field and hit all three of her three-point attempts.

Pittsburgh came into the game as the ACC leader in rebounding with 45.3 per game, but UNC, second in the league, won the battle of the boards 43-36. Alyssa Ustby led the way with a game-high 12 and added 10 points for her 10^th double-double of the season and third in as many games.

Carolina jumped out to a 10-2 lead four minutes into the game after back-to-back threes by Kennedy Todd-Williams and Carlie Littlefield. The home team was up 18-7 at the end of the first quarter, marking the 10^th time this season and the third game in a row in which UNC has held its opponent to single digits in the first 10 minutes.

In addition to leading the ACC in total rebounds, Pitt leads the way in offensive rebounds with 16 per game. The Panthers had none in the first half, with Carolina holding a 11-0 lead on the offensive glass and a 27-14 lead overall. The Tar Heels led 34-18 on the scoreboard despite shooting 3-16 (18.8 percent) in the second quarter.

Carolina increased its lead to as many as 22 at two points in the third quarter, the second on a Destiny Adams jumper that made the score 51-29 with 2:30 to play in the period. But Pitt scored the game's next 15 points to close within seven, 51-44, with 5:14 remaining. A long three-pointer by Hodgson, assisted by Kelly, with 4:55 to play finally got the Tar Heels going again and they were able to close out the win, with Pitt never again getting closer than eight.

Pitt took just four free throws all night and made one, giving Carolina a 19-point advantage from the foul line. After zero offensive rebounds in the first half, the Panthers grabbed eight in the second half and turned those into 15 second-chance points.

"Good teams have to win ugly, and we haven't won ugly very much," Banghart said. "I'll chalk this one up as 'win ugly and get ready for the next one.'"