Tar Heels Earn 64-49 Win At FSU

Sunday, February 20

Tallahassee, Fla.

Noon

North Carolina

21-5,11-5ACC

Florida State

14-12,8-8ACC

North Carolina

Florida St.

UNC won at FSU for the first time since 2014.

February 20, 2022 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Behind 26 points from Deja Kelly and a double-double from Alyssa Ustby, the No. 24 North Carolina women's basketball team beat Florida State 64-49 Sunday afternoon at the Donald L. Tucker Center. The Tar Heels improved to 21-5 on the season and 11-5 in Atlantic Coast Conference play with their first road win against the Seminoles since 2014, when Kelly and Ustby were sixth graders.

Kelly's scoring total marked her sixth time with 20+ points this season and she also led the team with five assists, equal to her season high. Ustby finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds for her 12^th double of the season. Kennedy Todd-Williams scored 10 points as the three sophomores played in their 50^th game as Tar Heels and gave coach Courtney Banghart her 50^th win at Carolina.

"My guys showed so much fight and so much grit and just so much connection," Banghart said. "It was one of our better wins, although it was one of the harder ones to watch at times. Super happy for our guys with their 11^th win in the league."

Kelly scored the first five points of the game as the Tar Heels jumped out to an early lead. She had nine by the end of the first period but Carolina trailed by one, 14-13, heading into the second quarter. Until their most recent game, a 66-65 win over No. 3 Louisville on Thursday, the Tar Heels hadn't won a game after trailing 10 minutes in. Sunday, they made it two in a row, again bouncing back from a first-period deficit.

Neither team scored in the first 2:41 of the second quarter until Kelly hit a three to give Carolina a 16-14 lead and give her 12 points already in the game. FSU tied the game at 20 with 2:29 to play in the period, but the Tar Heels were up 25-22 at the half.

With UNC in an 0-for-8 slump, Florida State took a two-point lead at 35-33 with two minutes to play in the third quarter. At that point, UNC hadn't scored in more than five minutes, but Ustby knocked in a three put the Tar Heels ahead again, 36-35. UNC led 40-35 heading into the final period.

The Tar Heels used a late 11-0 run to gain some breathing room. After FSU got within a point, 45-44 with 7:05 to play, UNC got rolling with back-to-back lay-ups by Todd-Williams and Hodgson, a three by Ustby, a jumper from Kelly, and then a lay-up by Poole to make it 56-44 Carolina.

FSU halted the Tar Heel run with a three by Sammie Puisis, but Hodgson answered with a three of her own to again put the visitors up by 12. A three by Kelly with 37 seconds to play gave the Tar Heels their largest lead of the game and what would prove to be the final 15-point margin. UNC outscored FSU 24-12 in the fourth quarter while shooting 56.3 (9-16) from the field.

"It was a really good team win for us," Kelly said. "We knew this game meant a lot for us. We started off a little slow but once we picked it up we were fine. We moved the ball well and picked it up on defense, which led to offense."

Poole finished with a game-best 13 rebounds, matching her high against an ACC opponent. She led a rebounding effort that saw the Tar Heels win the battle of the boards for the sixth game in a row. They held a 40-32 edge against the Seminoles, who came in shooting 44.6 percent from the field (third in the ACC) but managed just 37.5 percent on Sunday.

"I thought we really kept our cool," Ustby said. "We kept pushing forward and eventually the offense came. The defense was maintaining throughout the game so we were able to come out with the win."

It marked the 12^th time this season – and the fourth time in ACC play – that UNC has held an opponent under 50 points, the highest total since Carolina did so 13 times in 2006-07.

Next up for the Tar Heels is another road game, in the other direction. After returning from Florida late Sunday afternoon, the Tar Heels will get two days at home before they head for Virginia on Wednesday. Game time on Thursday in Charlottesville, Va., is 7 p.m.

After that, Carolina looks ahead to its final game of the regular season, at home next Sunday (Feb. 27) against Duke. Tipoff is 4 p.m. and the Tar Heels will celebrate Senior Day with postgame festivities.