Sellout Crowd Cheers WBB To Win Over No. 11 NC State

Sunday, January 15

Chapel Hill

3:30 PM

North Carolina

12-5,3-3ACC

NC State

13-5,3-4ACC

NC State

North Carolina

Destiny Adams and the Tar Heels beat No. 11 NC State 56-47 on Sunday.

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

January 15, 2023 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The scoring was low but the energy was high as the No. 22 North Carolina women's basketball team beat No. 11 NC State 56-47 Sunday afternoon in front of a sell-out crowd of 6,319 at Carmichael Arena.

"We kept it interesting," UNC coach Courtney Banghart said. "I'm sure there were some people that were questioning if either team ever practiced offense. We don't really care how the game goes as long as we have one more point than the other team, which we did. We're certainly happy to have another ranked win under our belt."

Carolina improved to 12-5 overall and 3-3 in Atlantic Coast Conference play with its third win in a row and fourth win of the season over a ranked team. The 56 points marked a season low for the Tar Heels, who also shot a season-low 29.7 from the field but managed to pull out the win over their Triangle rivals.

Next up for UNC is another ranked Triangle battle as the Tar Heels host No. 16 Duke on Thursday at 8 p.m.

⚡️ BIG ⚡️ energy ⚡️ in ⚡️ the ⚡️ gym ⚡️ today ⚡️ Thanks to the 6️⃣,3️⃣1️⃣9️⃣ who came out for making Carmichael so magical for @uncwbb's big win 🙌#GoHeels x #GDTBATH pic.twitter.com/i7uK7ELvNL — UNC Tar Heels (@GoHeels) January 16, 2023

The Wolfpack (13-5, 3-4 ACC) led 32-31 heading into the fourth quarter, when the Tar Hels finally got their offense rolling. They outscored the visitors 25-15 over the final 10 minutes, shooting 58.3 percent from the field and more than doubling their scoring output in any of the first three quarters.

After NC State took a three-point lead on a pair of three throws by Jakia Brown-Turner 21 seconds in, the Tar Heels went on an 8-0 run to grab the lead for good. Alexandra Zelaya hit a jumper to cut the margin to one and then Kennedy Todd-Williams got a steal and took it in for a layup to give Carolina the lead for good. She then added a pair of free throws, and Alyssa Ustby hit one more to put Carolina up by five, 39-34, at that point the home team's biggest lead of the game. A three by the Wolfpack's Diamond Johnson again cut the margin to two but NC State wouldn't get closer.

Tar Heel freshman Paulina Paris hit a three and then sophomore Destiny Adams scored eight points in just under two minutes on a layup and back-to-back threes. Her second three gave Carolina a seven-point lead at 52-45 with 91 seconds to play. Todd-Williams and Ustby each made two free throws in the final 27 seconds to bring the Tar Heels to 56 points on the night. It was two points less than their previous low, 58 in a loss at Miami, but all they needed for the win.

UNC won the rebounding battle for the first time this season in ACC play, with Ustby hauling in a career-high 18 boards as UNC outrebounded NC State 45-41.

Eva Hodgson, who had gone two games without hitting a three-pointer, got UNC started with a three-pointer just over three minutes into the action. She was 2-2 from long range in the first quarter for six of UNC's 10 points in the first period.

Todd-Williams finished with a team-best 15, eight of which came in the fourth quarter, and was the only Tar Heel in double figures. Ustby and Hodgson scored nine each. In addition to her 18 boards, Ustby handed out a team-high four assists.

The sellout was UNC's first since the 2014-15 season.

"It wasn't just Tar Heels, we know that, but to have that many people in the Triangle supporting two really good basketball teams, it's not lost on me how important that is," Banghart said. "It was an awesome crowd today. A lot of them were Tar Heels, so shout out to our fans."