WBB Falls To No. 17 UConn At Hall Of Fame Showcase

Sunday, December 10

Uncasville, Conn.

5 PM

North Carolina

6-4,0-0ACC

UConn

6-3,0-0Big East

North Carolina

UConn

Maria Gakdeng finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds for UNC.

Photo by: Greg Fiume

December 10, 2023 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

UNCASVILLE, Conn. – No. 17 Connecticut used a big third quarter to break open a game that was tied at halftime and then held off No. 24 North Carolina down the stretch to win 76-64 in the third of three ranked matchups Sunday in the Basketball Hall of Fame Women's Showcase at Mohegan Sun Arena.

UConn improved to 6-3 overall while the Tar Heels fell to 6-4, with three of the four losses coming to higher-ranked teams.

All five UNC starters hit double figures, led by junior center Maria Gakdeng's 14 points and 13 rebounds. Lexi Donarski finished with 12, Deja Kelly with 11, and Alyssa Ustby and Indya Nivar with 10 each.

Paige Bueckers led UConn with a game-high 26 points on 11-14 shooting. Aaliyah Edwards scored 16 for the Huskies, and Nika Muhl had 12.

UNC won the rebounding battle 43-33, with Nivar grabbing nine and Ustby seven. Gakdeng's 13, her high as a Tar Heel, gave her a first double-double at UNC and the fourth of her career, with the first three coming at Boston College. She grabbed double-digit rebounds for the second time in the past three games.

The Tar Heels started hot, with Kelly hitting the team's first three shots for a 6-2 lead early. UConn stormed back and ended the quarter on a 15-4 run that included an 0-for-7 streak by Carolina and gave the close-to-home team a 19-10 advantage heading into the second quarter.

(UConn, the home team on the scoreboard, was playing 45 minutes from its campus in Storrs, Conn.)

Carolina shot 64.7 (11-17) in the second quarter, its third-best shooting percentage in a period this season. The Tar Heels cut into the UConn lead with back-to-back makes by Donarski then freshman Reniya Kelly's first career three-pointer, which made it a five-point game with 7:24 to play.

UNC retook the lead on two occasions, the first on an Ustby layup with 3:17 to play before halftime that gave the Tar Heels a 30-28 lead. After the Huskies again pulled ahead, a Gakdeng layup a minute before the break again gave Carolina the lead at 35-34. The teams were tied at the half, 36-36

UConn scored the first 11 points of the third quarter before a Nivar jumper just over three minutes into the quarter provided a UNC counter. The Tar Heels rallied back to get as close as five, but the Huskies held a 29-13 scoring advantage in the period and carried a 16-point lead, 65-49, into the fourth quarter.

UNC used a 7-0 run capped by a Donarski three to cut the margin to 10, 68-58, with 4:42 to play, and the Tar Heels were within eight with three minutes remaining, but they couldn't get any closer.

UConn's 76 points are the most by a Tar Heel opponent this season. The Huskies had 20 assists and 10 steals, also opponent highs.

It was the teams' first meeting since 2012 and UConn's fifth win in a row in the series.