WBB Wraps Up Florida Trip With Close Loss To FGCU

Sunday, November 26

Estero, Fla.

5 PM

North Carolina

Florida Gulf Coast

The Tar Heels fell to FGCU Sunday in the third-place game of the Gulf Coast Showcase.

Photo by: Tessa Mortensen

November 26, 2023 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

ESTERO, Fla. – Despite a pair of 20-point scorers, a late lead and its best shooting percentage of the season, the North Carolina women's basketball team fell 65-64 to Florida Gulf Coast Sunday in the third-place game of the Gulf Coast Showcase at Hertz Arena.

UNC (5-2) is back in action at home on Thursday night, hosting top-ranked South Carolina at Carmichael Arena in the ACC-SEC Challenge.

The No. 18 Tar Heels were up by three, 64-61, with 3:45 to play but couldn't get a score down the stretch. Senior guard Deja Kelly finished with a game-high 24 points and junior center Maria Gakdeng scored 22, equal to her career high. Gakdeng, who was a perfect 8-8 from the field and 6-6 from the line, also led the Tar Heels with nine boards as they outrebounded the Eagles 27-21.

"Hats off to Maria," UNC coach Courtney Banghart said. "She shoots 100 percent from the field, gets nine rebounds, no turnovers, had a really good game. We didn't get enough from our guard play. It's onwards for our group."

Carolina shot 51.2 percent from the field, the highest of the season so far, but took a season-low 41 shots. FGCU shot 46.2 overall, the best for a Carolina opponent this season, and was 40.7 (11-27) from three, with half the Eagles' makes coming from long range.

"Kudos to Gulf Coast," Banghart said. "Shots they couldn't hit yesterday, they hit today."

The Eagles (5-2) led 23-18 10 minutes in and stretched their lead to eight, 28-20, at the 6:21 mark of the second quarter. The Tar Heels took their first lead of the game on a pair of free throws by Kelly with five seconds to play in the period and led 33-31 at the break. UNC held the advantage throughout most of the third until FGCU tied the game at 46 on a three-pointer with 2:50 to play in the third and then took a two-point lead, 52-50, into the fourth.

UNC was up by three after a Kelly jumper with 7:32 to play and then again on two later occasions, the last 64-61 on a Kayla McPherson free throw with 3:45 remaining.

The Tar Heels were 20-29 from the foul line, hitting season highs for both makes and attempts. They again struggled to generate offense from three-point range, hitting just two for the third game in a row and finishing the Gulf Coast Showcase 6-41 from three.

"We'll probably sit on this for the night and then by tomorrow, we're looking forward to our next opponent and just getting better," Kelly said. "There will be film and a lot of learning opportunity from this game. We just have to grow from it and learn from it."

Notes
• Kelly's 20-point game was her first of the season and the 22^nd of her career.
• UNC committed a season-high 15 turnovers.
• Carolina had three players – Alyssa Ustby, Lexi Donarski and Kayla McPherson – finish the game with four fouls each. Ustby played just 23:46, well below her average of 30 minutes per game.