University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
North Carolina A&T
Women's Basketball Hits Road For Visit To N.C. A&T
November 11, 2024 | Women's Basketball
NO. 14/16 NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS (2-0, 0-0 ACC)
Head Coach: Courtney Banghart (Dartmouth, 2000)
Record at North Carolina: 98-56 (6th season)
Career Record: 352-159 (18th season)
N.C. A&T AGGIES (0-2, 0-0 CAA)
Head Coach: Tarrell Robinson (N.C. A&T, 2001)
Record at N.C. A&T: 229-133 (13th season)
Career Record: Same
SCOUTING N.C. A&T
The Aggies enter Tuesday's meeting coming off of a tight one-point loss at Rice last week.
In it's two games this year against SMU and the Owls, N.C. A&T's perimeter defense has been one of the best, limiting its opponents to a 17.1% clip from deep.
Posting back-to-back 20-point outings, Jordyn Dorsey paces the Aggies with 24.5 points per game.
N.C. A&T hosts the Tar Heels in its home opener, after an 11-5 record on its own court last year.
SERIES HISTORY
The two teams meet for the second time under Banghart and the fourth overall in program history.
UNC visits the Aggies' home court for the first time, after previously winning all three meetings in Chapel Hill.
In the season opener in 2021, Alyssa Ustby scored 15 points and 7 rebounds in the 92-47 victory.
LAST TIME OUT
Powered by the duo of Lexi Donarksi and Reniya Kelly, the Tar Heels utlized the three-ball to push past UNCW, 77- 50 on Thursday in Chapel Hill.
Donarski totaled a Tar Heel season-high 21 points while shooting 5-of-11 from beyond the arc. In her 13th career start, Kelly added 14 points while going 3-of-5 from deep.
Fresh faces made themselves known, with freshman Blanca Thomas leading all off the glass with 10 rebounds. In her second collegiate game, Ciera Toomey nearly recorded a double-double with 9 points and 8 rebounds. Leading the offense, graduate transfer Grace Townsend dished out a team-best 8 assists
All-around for UNC, mainstay Alyssa Ustby grabbed 9 rebounds, and added 7 points, 3 assists, 2 blocks and 2 steals.
HIT THE ROAD
North Carolina enters a true road environment for the first time this year and the earliest in a season since 2018.
The last time UNC visited an opponent's court this early in a season was 2018, when the Tar Heels began the 2018-19 season at Elon.
Under Banghart, North Carolina is 3-2 in its first road game of the year and has won the past three.
PLAYING FOR KEEPS
The Tar Heel defense has been out in full force the first two games of the year, forcing 20 plus turnovers against Charleston Southern and UNCW.
Forcing 21 and then 25 in the opening week of the season, is the first time UNC has forced back-to-back 20+ turnover games to begin a year since the start of 2022 with three-straight games.
NEED A DIME? GRACE'S GOT YOU
Already statistically proven as one of the best facilitators in college basketball, Grace Townsend continues to rack up assists in her first season in Chapel Hill.
The Richmond transfer currently sits at No. 3 nationally in active career assists with a total of 569.
Against UNCW, Townsend tallied 8 assists against the Seahawks for a season-best. Throughout her career, Townsend has dished out five or more assists in 59 games.
YOU GET A BUCKET! YOU GET A BUCKET!
The sharing of the ball between the Tar Heels against Charleston Southern led to 11 different players reaching the basket in the season opener.
The feat marked the most scoring in a game for UNC since 11 did in 2011 against James Madison.
Coming off the bench in her first game in a Carolina uniform, junior Trayanna Crisp made an immediate splash against Charleston Southern. Finishing as one of three to reach double-figure scoring against CSU with 11 points, Crisp also dished out 3 assists.
For the second year in-a-row, a transfer has scored in double-digits in their Carolina debut, with Crisp joining teammate Indya Nivar who scored 17 points last season against Gardner Webb.
HOME SWEET HOME
The confines of Carmichael Arena are sweet to the Tar Heels, especially during non-conference action.
Under Banghart, UNC is 29-2 in non-conference home games.
NOVEMBER TO REMEMBER
The month of November has proven to be successful for the Tar Heels while under Banghart.
Now during year six in Chapel Hill, UNC is 28-3 during the first month of the season under her tenure.
THE BEST OF THE BEST
A mixture of youth and experience can be found throughout the Tar Heel roster, yet some of the vets on the team have proven their skills on a national level.
The duo of Donarksi and Ustby make them one of the most experienced pairs in the country, ranking in the top-five in multiple categories among active players in Division I Basketball.
As a sharpshooter, Donarski currently sits at No. 6 in made three's with a total of 277. With 130 career appearances, she also ranks No. 6 in active games played.
A walking double-double, Ustby's 974 career rebounds have her eighth nationally. Her 38 double-doubles have
her tied for seventh nationally among active players.
Newcomer Grace Townsend has proven herself as one of the best dime droppers in the nation, with her total of 569 ranking third overall and lead the ACC.
NEW CHAPTER STARTS...NOW
The dawn of a new season always brings excitement as to what's next, as North Carolina preps to begin a new campaign with high anticipation surrounding the program.
Excitement is abundant among Banghart and Co., in bringing in a roster loaded with returning experience.
Utilizing the transfer portal to bring in two guards, and signing three freshmen, this team looks to go deep in its rotation to make another NCAA Tournament run.
WHAT'S BACK?
Nine from last year's NCAA Tournament team return to Chapel Hill, including three key starters in Lexi Donarksi, Maria Gakdeng and Alyssa Ustby.
The trio accounted for 47.4% of UNC's scoring in 2023-24, and prepare to make even more of an impact as Donarski and Gakdeng enter their second season in a Carolina uniform.
Indya Nivar returns after appearing in all 33 games last season with starting experience and Reniya Kelly boasts 11 starts and 21 appearances prior to missing the remainder of last season due to injury.
STAT BREAKDOWN
Points returning: 63.1%
Three's returning: 63.9%
Rebounds returning: 62.1%
Assists returning: 63.7%
Steals returning: 70.1%
Blocks returning: 72.5%
Ustby is back as the Tar Heels' leader in rebounds, assists and steals from last season.
Around the rim, Gakdeng looks to expand her defensive range as the team's leading shot blocker with 51 rejections last year.
With 277 made career-three's, Donarski drained 74 triples last season for 33.9% from beyond the arc to lead the Tar Heels.
NOT DONE YET
Choosing to utilize their fifth and final season of collegiate eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Donarski and Ustby prep to make their last seasons one to remember.
Donarksi has already eclipsed the 1,500 career-point mark, while Ustby remains just shy. Ustby is also less than 50 rebounds away from surpassing the 1,000 career mark.
THE FAB FRESHMEN
Scouring the United States for some of the nation's top talent, Banghart and Co. have brought in three freshman that have the chance to make an immediate impact for Carolina.
Lanie Grant, Blanca Thomas and Jordan Zubich comprise the freshman class with the trio bringing in a plethora of high school and club accolades.
Grant chose to reclassify to the class of 2024 and forgo her final season of high school to join the Tar Heels early. An active member of USA Basketball, Grant was a member of the 2023 U.S. U16 Team that won gold at the FIBA Americas U16 Championship, while averaging 11.2 points throughout the tournament.
A Carolina native, Thomas hopes to provide assistance on the interior and a strong defensive presence. The 2023 Defensive Player of the Year by the Charlotte Observer, Thomas led Charlotte Catholic to back-to-back final four appearances in the state tournament during her sophomore and junior seasons.
Joining Ustby as the second Minnesota native on the team, Zubich is coming off of an electric prep career where she scored over 3,000 career points. A graduate of Mountain Iron-Buhl High School, Zubich was touted as the No. 69 player in the Class of 2024 by ESPN's HoopGurlz.
A FRESH START
Finding a new home in Chapel Hill, transfers Trayanna Crisp and Grace Townsend immediately add a boost at the point guard position in two experienced floor generals.
Following a breakout sophomore season at Arizona State, Crisp chose to leave her native Arizona to don a Carolina uniform. Appearing in 59 games with 35 starts over two seasons with the Sun Devils, Crisp increased her scoring by over 50% as a sophomore for an average of 12.1 points per game.
Crisp notched a career-high against Washington last year with a total of 23 points against the Huskies, adding to her total of 29 games scoring in double-figures.
Also choosing to leave her home state, Townsend joins UNC following a heralded four-year career at Richmond. As a Spider, Townsend became the first men's or women's basketball player in school history to reach 1,000 career points, 500 assists and 500 rebounds.
The 2024 A-10 All-Conference First Team honoree ended her career in Richmond ranked 14th overall in scoring for the program with 1,244 points.
KEEPING IT 100
With 98 wins at the helm of the Tar Heels, Courtney Banghart is two wins away from reaching the 100 mark.
Banghart recently reached the 350 career-win mark in UNC's NCAA Tournament win against Michigan State last season.
LETTING LYSS SHINE
A consistent presence for the Tar Heels the past four seasons, Alyssa Ustby's dedication to the game and the program can be seen in her performance on the court as she averaged a double-double in ACC action last season with 12.4 points and 10.0 rebounds per game.
Heading into her final season, Ustby's skills are well known throughout women's basketball as she has added to her list of honors this preseason.
After being named Second-team All-ACC last year, Ustby earned Preseason All-ACC honors to kick off the 2024-25 campaign.
For the fourth consecutive season, Ustby was tabbed to the Cheryl Miller Award Preseason Watchlist as one of the country's top small forwards. She was also named to the Naismith Award Preseason Watchlist as one of the top players in women's basketball.
OH MY MARIA!
Posting a stellar first season as a Tar Heel, Maria Gakdeng averaged 6.4 points per game while shooting 62.6% from the field in 2023-24.
The senior's efforts were once again recognized as one of the best centers in the nation, as Gakdeng was named to the Lisa Leslie Award Watch List for the second season in-a-row.
Gakdeng also proves to be a fearless rim protector, on the verge of reaching the 200 career block mark at 182.
PRESSURE IS A PRIVILEGE
At Carolina, winning is a tradition and the pressure to be one of the best remains high. The Tar Heels open the season selected to finish sixth overall in the Atlantic Coast Conference after finishing in the top half of the conference the past four seasons.
NON-CON TESTS AWAIT
Playing in one of the deepest conferences in the nation as a member of the ACC, taking on challenges in the non-conference slate is crucial towards the build for March.
UNC begins these tests early, heading to Greensboro to host No. 2 UConn in a neutral site game on Nov. 15. The Tar Heels face off against the perrenial power in a return game after traveling to Connecticut last year and falling to the Huskies, 76-64.
Traveling to the Bahamas for the 2024 Battle4Atlantis, the Tar Heels have the chance to face off against multiple NCAA Tournament teams including Baylor, Columbia, Indiana and Texas A&M. UNC heads to Paradise Island to play three games in three days from Nov. 23 through 25.
Two SEC teams await on North Carolina's schedule, hosting No. 22 Kentucky in Chapel Hill for the SEC/ACC Challenge on Dec. 5. The Tar Heels then travel to Charlotte to go up against Florida on Dec. 18 in the 2024 Jumpman Classic.
MILESTONE TRACKER
LEXI DONARSKI
• 3 assists away from 250 career.
• 23 made three's away from 300 career.
• 1 rebound away from 400.
MARIA GAKDENG
• 18 points away from 1,000 career.
• 16 blocks away from 200 career.
• 13 assists away from 100 career.
INDYA NIVAR
• 19 assists from 200 career.
GRACE TOWNSEND
• 250 points away from 1,500 career.
• 31 assists away from 600 career.
ALYSSA USTBY
• 43 points from 1,500 career.
• 26 rebounds away from 1,000 career.
• 3 blocks from cracking the top-10 in UNC history.
NEW FACES TO THE BENCH
Banghart strengthened her staff this off-season in adding assistant coaches Katherine Bixby and Cory McNeill to the Tar Heel staff.
Bixby brings more than 15 years of coaching experience to Chapel Hill and boasts head coaching experience with stops at Johns Hopkins and Dickinson College.
McNeill spent the past five seasons at East Carolina where he served as an associate head coach. His coaching journey also includes stops at Hartford, Virginia, Georgetown and Coppin State.
WHAT'S NEXT?
The Tar Heels face an early season challenge in No. 2 UConn in a neutral site meeting at First Horizon Coliseum on Friday. The tilt against the highly-ranked Huskies can be caught on ESPN2 at 6 p.m. ET.
