WBB Pulls Out Homecourt Win Over Miami

Thursday, January 25

Chapel Hill

8 PM

North Carolina

Miami

The Tar Heels celebrate after Indya Nivar (24) drew a foul with five seconds on the clock.

January 25, 2024 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – All five starters scored in double figures as the UNC women's basketball team earned a homecourt victory over Miami Thursday night, 66-61 at Carmichael Arena. The Tar Heels improved to 15-5 overall and 7-1 in the ACC, their best start in conference play since 2013.

North Carolina led throughout the game and was up by 19 in the second quarter, but Miami battled back, closing within a point with 28 seconds to play.

"It wasn't easy and we still just found a way," UNC coach Courtney Banghart said.

Deja Kelly led UNC with 18 points, Maria Gakdeng scored 13, and Lexi Donarski and Alyssa Ustby added 12 each. Freshman Reniya Kelly scored a career-high 10 points, all in the first half when she was 4-5 from the floor and 2-3 from three-point range. It was the second game in a row that she upped her career scoring high. "Reniya has grown up right in front of our eyes," Banghart said. "I thought she was huge tonight."

Ustby grabbed 10 rebounds to register her 10^th double-double of the season and 32^nd of her career.

UNC got off to a fast start, shooting 61.5 percent in the first quarter to lead 22-8 after 10 minutes. Reniya Kelly drained two three-pointers in the first three minutes of the game and Donarski hit another as the Tar Heels were 3-4 from long range in the first quarter.

The Hurricanes made up ground in the second, when they shot 53.8 from the field, but Carolina still led by 10, 38-28, at the half. The Tar Heels were up by 17, 51-34, with five minutes to play in the period after an Ustby layup, and they held a 13-point advantage heading into the fourth quarter.

Miami continued to chip away at the lead, and Shayeann Day-Wilson hit back-to-back-to-back threes to get her team within six points with 1:49 to play. Her jumper with 57 seconds remaining made it a four-point game, 62-58, then she hit a free throw to make it three.

A steal and layup by Lashae Dwyer made it a one-point game, 62-61, with 30 seconds to play. But Deja Kelly was 4-4 from the foul line in the final 15 seconds to score the last four points of the game and make it a 66-61 final.

Miami finished with 12 three-pointers, a season-high by a Tar Heel opponent, on 30 attempts. Day-Wilson made five of those and finished with 18 points. Jaida Patrick was the ony other Hurricane in double figures with 10.

It was Jersey Night at Carmichael and Banghart coached in a jersey that read "204," the sum of all her players' jersey numbers. "For Jersey Night I figured I should celebrate my favorite team and my favorite player," Banghart said,

"This is a true team. You add up all the jersey numbers, you get 204. And that's kind of what this team has become. We need every one of the numbers in 204 to collectively get wins. I said that before the game and we've gotten it every night."

Next up for the Tar Heels is a trip to face Virginia on Sunday. Tipoff is at noon in Charlottesville, Va.