WBB Falls At Louisville, 62-55

Sunday, February 5

Louisville, Ky.

Noon

North Carolina

17-6,8-4ACC

Louisville

17-8,8-4ACC

North Carolina

Louisville

Paulina Paris played all 40 minutes in UNC's loss at Louisville Sunday.

February 5, 2023 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The North Carolina women's basketball team saw its eight-game winning streak come to an end on Sunday with a 62-55 loss at Louisville.

"We just didn't play well enough to win," UNC coach Courtney Banghart said. "We didn't handle their pressure well enough which forced really tough shots. Two fastbreak points on the road isn't going to get the job done and shooting 30 percent, and 60 percent from the line, isn't going to get it done either."

No. 11 UNC (17-6, 8-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) is back in action on Thursday at Syracuse.

Three Tar Heels reached double figures as just seven players saw action for short-handed Carolina. Deja Kelly led the way with 13 points, seven of which came at the foul line. Paulina Paris scored 12 in playing all 40 minutes for the first time in her career. Anya Poole finished with 10 for her second double-figure game in a row and second total in ACC play.

Kennedy Todd-Williams added nine points and led UNC with eight rebounds. Playing without Alyssa Ustby, who ranks fourth in the ACC in rebounding as well as 11^th in scoring, the Tar Heels were outrebounded 46-35.

Ustby, out Sunday with a lower body injury, had started 71 games in a row for UNC and missed a game for the first time in her three seasons on the team. The Tar Heels are also without senior guard Eva Hodgson, who has missed the past four games after starting the first 19 of the season.

"Nobody is super healthy this time of year so I don't think anyone is feeling bad for us, but Alyssa does a lot for us and so does Eva – we're out two starters," Banghart said. "So we have a lot of freshmen and sophomores playing a lot right now. This was a great college basketball environment, I think it rattled them a little bit. Great experience for our young guys."

Neither team ever led by double digits in a back-and-forth game that saw six lead changes. UNC hit just one three-pointer (by Paris in the fourth quarter), a season low total that contributed to a season low final scoring total.

UNC countered Louisville runs with runs of its own and led by a point, 24-23 at halftime. The Tar Heels extended that lead to nine with an 8-0 run out of halftime to go up 32-23, their biggest lead of the game, with 8:33 to play in the quarter.

With a crowd of more than 10,000 cheering them on at the KFC Yum! Center, the Cardinals roared back to take a five-point lead into the fourth quarter. UNC cut the advantage to one on Paris' three-pointer with 6:10 to play in the game (51-50), but the Tar Heels could never pull ahead.

Hailey Van Lith and Chrislyn Carr scored 17 each for Louisville, which improved to 17-8 overall and 8-4 in conference play.

Both teams made 19 field goals (UofL on 56 attempts and UNC on 57) and 16 free throws. The difference came from three-point range – North Carolina hit one of its 12 attempts and Louisville hit 8 of its 27, with five by Carr, accounting for the final seven-point margin.

UNC held a 24-14 advantage in the paint and outscored Louisville 24-7 in points off turnovers. (The Tar Heels turned the ball over just four times in the first half, 14 times for the game, while forcing the Cardinals into 22.) But Louisville led 18-8 in second-chance points, creating opportunities with a 15-10 advantage on the offensive boards.