WBB Downs St. John's To Advance To NCAA Second Round

Saturday, March 18

Columbus, Ohio

4 PM

North Carolina

22-10,11-7ACC

St. John's (NCAA First Round)

23-9,13-7Big East

St. John's (NY)

North Carolina

Deja Kelly

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

March 18, 2023 | Women's Basketball

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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Tar Heels survived, and now they'll advance.

Sixth-seeded UNC held on to edge 11^th-seeded St. John's 61-59 Saturday afternoon in an NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament first round game at Value City Arena. The Tar Heels earned a second-round meeting with host Ohio State, which beat James Madison in Saturday's first game in Columbus.

"Just really happy to be advancing," said UNC coach Courtney Banghart, sitting between juniors Deja Kelly and Kennedy Todd-Williams. "They call it survive and advance for a reason, and think we survived that one in large part of because of who's sitting next to me.

"Not sure it was the game you all are going to press repeat and keep forever, but not sure that matters. We're just glad to be out of here with a win."

🗣️ 𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙜𝙖𝙨, 𝙣𝙤 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 #GoHeels | #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/5fZnSvAIer
— Carolina Women's Basketball (@uncwbb) March 18, 2023

The Tar Heels improved to 22-10 on the seaosn with their 50th NCAA Tournament win in program history.

UNC rolled out to an 8-0 lead and held the advantage through the first three quarters, going up by as many as 12 early in the third. The Red Storm hung around and shot 57.8 percent from the field after halftime to continue to close the gap.

Midway through the fourth, the Red Storm's Danielle Patterson hit a three-pointer with 6:39 to play that put her team up 49-48. SJU led by as many as five and was still up by three with under two minutes to play when Tar Heel freshman Paulina Paris made a layup in transition, was fouled and then hit the free throw to tie the game at 54-54 with 1:59 to play.

After that, the Tar Heels never trailed again, but they also never breathed easy until the final buzzer. Redshirt freshman Teonni Key hit two free throws with 1:19 on the clock to put UNC up by two. "She stepped up huge," Kelly said. "When her name was called, she was ready to do whatever we needed her to do on the floor."

After Mimi Reid answered for St. John's to tie the game again, Todd-Williams scored off an offensive rebound – her shot rolled halfway around the rim before falling in – to put Carolina ahead with 29.1 seconds to play.

Again it was Reid who evened the score with a layup, tying the game at 58-58 with six seconds to play. The Tar Heels called a timeout, advanced the ball, and then put it in the hands of Kelly, who drove for a layup, got fouled and hit the free throw to put her team up by three with two seconds to play.

"I'm a competitor, so I'm just going to do whatever it takes to win," Kelly said.

With less than a second on the clock, Kelly was whistled for a foul on Patterson, who went to the line with three shots and the potential to tie the game. But she missed the first two then hit the third to make the final margin two.

Kelly finished with 18 points, four rebounds, two assists and a steal in 39 minutes. Todd-Williams scored 14 – including a pair of three-pointers on just three attempts – and led UNC in rebounds with seven.

Junior Alyssa Ustby finished with 13 points to put her past the 1,000-career-points mark. She started the day, which happened to be her birthday, with 990 career points and became the 40^th player in program history to score 1,000.

UNC took a season-low eight free throws but hit seven of those, including a crucial 4-4 in the final two minutes of the game.