WBB Drops Battle With No. 1 South Carolina, 65-58

Thursday, November 30

Chapel Hill

7 PM

North Carolina

South Carolina

The Tar Heels battled South Carolina in a sold-out Carmichael Arena.

Photo by: ANTHONY SORBELLINI

November 30, 2023 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The North Carolina women's basketball team battled to the finish but ultimately fell to top-ranked South Carolina on Thursday night, 65-58 at a sold-out Carmichael Arena. The two senior captains led the way for UNC, with Deja Kelly scoring 20 points and Alyssa Ustby 18 along with a team-high 12 rebounds.

No. 24 UNC fell to 5-3 on the season with its third loss in a row. No. 1 South Carolina is now 6-0 and had won its first five games by at least 29 points – the margin over then-No. 10 Notre Dame – coming into the contest.

The game was the Tar Heels' second sell-out in the past year and first of this season. "Great for women's basketball, but if we're keeping it in-house, really great for Carolina," UNC coach Courtney Banghart said of the crowd. "To have a crowd like that that. It was a mix of friends and family, community members, students, it was just a really great environment. I'm really proud of the following we've earned."

The Tar Heels jumped out to a 6-0 lead and were up 15-6 with three minutes to play in the period after back-to-back three-pointers by Lexi Donarski, who finished with nine points, all on threes. Carolina was still up 19-10 after a quarter and ahead 29-26 at the break. That was despite an 0-8 stretch the Tar Heels endured in the second quarter.

UNC stretched its lead to five, 36-31, on an Ustby jumper with 7:20 to play in the period, but that was the home team's largest advantage of the second half. Thirty seconds later, Te-Hina Paopao hit a three – one of three on the night – to cut the margin to two. Another one just over a minute later gave the Gamecocks a two point lead and they held the advantage for the rest of the game.

Bree Hall finished with 15 points to lead the visitors and Paopao added 14. Kamilla Cardoso had 16 points and four blocks.

UNC won the rebounding battle 45-39 and held South Carolina 35 points below its 100-point scoring average coming into the game. The Tar Heels had a season-best seven blocks, including three by Ustby and two by Maria Gakdeng, who hit her first three shots of the game – adding to her 8-for-8 night in the team's last outing – and finished with eight points and 10 rebounds, her high as a Tar Heel.

The game was part of the 2023 ACC/SEC Women's Basketball Challenge and marked the first time since the 1988-89 season that UNC and South Carolina had met on a home court – the past 12 meetings in a row had been at neutral sites, most recently in the 2022 NCAA Sweet 16.