WBB Falls In OT At NC State

Thursday, February 16

Raleigh, N.C.

8 PM

North Carolina

18-8,9-6ACC

NC State

18-8,8-7ACC

OT 1

North Carolina

NC State

Carolina dropped an overtime battle in Raleigh to split the season series with NC State.

Photo by: ANTHONY SORBELLINI

February 16, 2023 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

RALEIGH, N.C. – The 19^th-ranked North Carolina women's basketball team fell 77-66 in overtime at NC State on Thursday night, leveling the season series after picking up a win over the Wolfpack in Chapel Hill last month. UNC led by 10 with 4:15 to play but the hosts staged a rally to tie up the game and then dominated the overtime period, outscoring the Tar Heels 15-4 in the extra five minutes.

It was Carolina's first overtime game of the season and the first time UNC and NC State had played to OT since 2009.

North Carolina is now 18-8 overall and 9-6 in Atlantic Coast Conference play heading into Sunday's home game against Wake Forest. Tipoff at Carmichael Arena is 4 p.m.

NC State improved to 18-8 overall (8-7 ACC) with the win.

Junior Deja Kelly finished with 18 points for UNC, playing all but 53 seconds of the game's 45 minutes. Freshman Paulina Paris came off the bench for 14 points on 6-7 shooting, with her only miss coming from three-point range, where UNC was 4-25 on the night. Junior Kennedy Todd-Williams also hit double figures with 11 points.

Jakia Brown-Turner scored 18 and hit four of her six three-point attempts for NC State. Aziaha James came off the bench for 18, eight of which were in overtime. Jada Boyd added 11 points.

UNC led 6-0 early as the Wolfpack missed its first five shots, but NC State bounced back to lead 15-14 by the end of the first period. The game was back-and-forth with nine lead changes. Carolina led by one at halftime, 30-29, and was up 44-37 heading into the fourth quarter.

The Tar Heels stretched the margin to 10 (52-42), their largest lead of the night, with 6:39 to play. They were still up by 10 at 55-45 with 4:15 remaining, but NC State continued to chip away at the lead. The Wolfpack cut it to five on a three by Mimi Collins with just over three minutes to play. UNC still led by that margin, 57-52, with 2:15 remaining.

Brown-Turner hit two three-pointers in just over a minute, with the second making it a one-point game, 61-60, with 31 seconds to play. UNC's Kayla McPherson, making her second career start, hit the second of two free throws to make it a two-point game with 17 seconds to play, 62-60. James tied the game at 62 on a fastbreak lay-up with 13 seconds to play then, after a Tar Heel turnover, had the chance to win it in regulation on a lay-up. Kelly's defense kept her from scoring and the game went into OT.

James went on to score eight points in overtime, including four of her team's first seven (Brown-Turner accounted for the others on a three), as the Wolfpack opened with a 7-0 run to take the lead for good. UNC was 1-9 from the field (11.1 percent) in overtime, with the Tar Heels' only basket a lay-up by Paris with 20 seconds to play. Kelly hit two free throws to account for UNC's four points over the final five minutes.

NC State led 32-7 in fast break points and also got 34 points from its bench.

"Great experience for our guys," UNC coach Courtney Banghart said. "I through their pressure bothered us and we obviously didn't shoot very well. The fact that we all feel like that was a game we could have won ... there are a lot of good takeaways from that."