Tar Heels Drop Battle In Tallahassee

Thursday, January 11

Tallahassee, Fla.

6 PM

North Carolina

Florida State

The Tar Heels battled back but fell at No. 21 FSU.

January 11, 2024 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The North Carolina women's basketball team battled back from a 21-point deficit, the team's largest of the season, to get within three but eventually fell on the road to No. 21 Florida State in an Atlantic Coast Conference battle Thursday evening at the Tucker Center.

No. 20 UNC is 11-5 overall and 3-1 in ACC play following the loss, which came in the team's third consecutive ranked matchup and second in a row on the road. Senior Deja Kelly led UNC with 23 points, her fourth 20-point game of the season and first in ACC play.

Next up for Carolina is a home game against Virginia on Sunday at 4 pm.

Florida State (13-4, 4-1 ACC) led wire-to-wire as the Tar Heels missed their first three attempts and shot 28.6 percent from the field in the first quarter. By halftime, FSU was up 41-26 with the highest first-half scoring total of any Tar Heel opponent this season.

The Seminoles extended their lead to 21 with 6:38 to play in the third quarter, with the deficit UNC's largest of the season. (The largest deficit before Thursday was 18 against UConn in December.) The Tar Heels battled back to trail by 11 heading into the fourth quarter then got within single digits 47 seconds into the period on a jumper by sophomore Indya Nivar. FSU answered then the Tar Heels got another score from Nivar to again cut it to nine.

Kelly then scored four in a row to get the margin to five, 60-55, the closest the game had been since early in the second quarter. FSU's Sara Bejedi, who led her team with 23 points, responded with a three to push the margin back to eight.

A layup by Kelly with 6:11 to play made it a six-point game again, but she fouled out less than a minute later. Even with their leading scorer on the bench, the Tar Heels continued to surge. A jumper by senior Alyssa Ustby with 3:19 to play made it a four-point game, and Carolina was within three after an Anya Poole free throw that made it 65-62 with 1:41 to play.

FSU scored the game's final five points to seal the win. After Bejedi's 23, the Seminoles got 12 points from O'Mariah Gordon and 11 from Makayla Timpson. Bejedi hit five three-pointers as the Seminoles totaled 10, eight of which came in the first half.

Nivar finished with 10 points and tied her career high with five assists.

The Tar Heels committed nine turnovers in the first half but finished with just 11, equal to their lowest total in ACC play. They won the rebounding battle for the second game in a row, 48-47.