By R.L. Bynum

COLUMBIA, S.C. — You want to be playing your best basketball in March, and No. 8 seed North Carolina arguably produced that for one half of Friday’s game.

The Tar Heels’ season-long trend of blowing big leads nearly bit them again but they showed the poise to make sure that didn’t happen.

But UNC delivered the early punches and lockdown defense throughout to take down No. 9 seed Michigan State 59–56 in the first round of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament at Colonial Life Arena.

“I think a lot of people try to outscore [Michigan State] because of their potent offense but our guys, we sort of said to know them is to defend them,” UNC coach Courtney Banghart said. “These guys totally locked into the defensive game plan so that we could make really tough looks out of them.”

UNC (20–12) will need to play well for 40 minutes and play better on Sunday at 1 p.m. (ABC) when it faces No. 1-ranked and top-seed South Carolina on its home court. The Gamecocks (33–0) thumped Presbyterian 91–39 in Friday’s second game, holding the Blue Hose to two fourth-quarter points.

The Tar Heels have more experience than they would like watching leads disappear or nearly disappear, but they came up with the plays when they needed the at the end when it mattered.

“We are learning how to adjust to adversity and to the changes of our opponent,” said Alyssa Ustby, who collected 16 points, a season-high 17 rebounds, six assists and three blocks for her 16th double-double. “I felt like this morning, we were quicker at making those adjustments. I think that’s something that’s really important for us, especially the ones inside the lines, to recognize those patterns and to recognize those changes and be able to adjust on the fly.”

Michigan State (22–9) cut a 15-point fourth-quarter lead to two, but Carolina never trailed in the game.

“I think we did a really good job of staying poised,” said Deja Kelly, who scored eight of her 13 points in the second half and played all 40 minutes. “Just kind of calm; us vets, we stayed poised. We broke their pressure. 

“So, I think that was a moment of maturity,” Kelly said. “It’s March, so you see situations like that where people freak out and turn the ball over more. I like the way we stayed consistent throughout those moments.”

UNC’s rebounding domination (35–22) proved to be the clincher in the final seconds. The Tar Heels won despite going 8 of 18 from the free-throw line, including 5 of 12 in the fourth quarter. 

After Lexi Donarski’s two free throws with 12.6 seconds left, Theryn Hallock’s corner 3-pointer with 5.4 seconds trimmed UNC’s lead to one. Kelly split a pair of free throws twice in the last 5.4 seconds left, but Teonni Key snagged the first miss, and Ustby corralled the second miss with one second left to put the game away.

“When Teonni and I were on the free-throw [lane] there, we knew we had to come up with a rebound in case we miss, and Deja doesn’t miss very often,” Ustby said. Ustby and junior center Maria Gakdeng were the linchpins in UNC’s strategy of exploiting its height advantage for points and rebounds inside. Gakdeng produced her fourth double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds and a game-high +20.

“Definitely having my height advantage part of the game plan, knowing they were going to shoot a lot of shots and we’d have to rebound,” said Gakdeng, who helped UNC earn a 30–14 advantage in inside points in her NCAA tournament debut and had more offensive rebounds (7) than Michigan State (6). “So, using my body, getting into them and getting those rebounds were going to be important, kicking back out for open threes, I think that was very important, for extra possessions and getting us up in the game.”

Carolina held a Michigan State team that averaged 83.7 points coming into the game to its second-lowest point total of the season (the lowest was 50 at Minnesota on Jan. 20). 

Carolina already had a height advantage, and that advantage became more pronounced in the second quarter when 6–2 Julia Ayrault (36 seconds left) and 5–10 Moira Joiner (6:52 left), both starters, each picked up their third fouls. Joiner was one of four Spartans who finished with four fouls.

Ustby had to be salivating when she saw that the game plan was to go inside, considering she can mix it up with opponents of any size around the basket.

“Once we start pounding them in the paint, then I get to kind of dissect and find where they are trying to overcompensate where they send a double, and Maria played really well the doubles and finding our teammates when we are cutting to the basket,” said Ustby, who has 40 more assists than in any of her three previous seasons.

Key was a big part of the effort with good minutes off the bench, with five points, seven rebounds and two blocks.

“Just really locking into the game plan that the coaches provided this whole past week,” Key said. “Doing everything I could to help the team.”

Banghart said Key was huge as she contested shots with her length.

“She guarded really well,” Banghart said “She was totally locked into the game plan. You could tell. She’s missed a lot of times, but she’s still finding her rhythm because of her injuries, and you guys are getting a glimpse of what she can do for us.”

Good UNC defense forced the Spartans into numerous tough late shot-clock opportunities.

“They are a dangerous offensive team,” Banghart said. “They forced turnovers and then they’re able to really get into the paint. We really wanted to close off and not give them layups.”

Carolina showed that it’s hitting its stride with its shorthanded backcourt, with former walk-on guard Sydney Barker logging five minutes, including playing in the opening quarter.

UNC took control with a 14–2 run, going up 16 points on a Gakdeng layup with 1:02 left in the opening quarter. The Heels led 23–10 after one quarter, the most points in the opening period since scoring 26 against Western Carolina on Dec. 15.

While Carolina went scoreless for more than four minutes, the Spartans cut their deficit to seven with a 9–0 run after back-to-back 3-pointers in the first 1:14 of the second quarter. A Key three-point play and Ustby transition layup ignited a 7–0 run, with UNC going up 14 on Gakdeng’s inside bucket.

Michigan State cut that lead to seven with a 7–0 run but UNC took a 35–27 lead on a pair of Kelly jumpers (the first a 3-pointer) in the last 1:34 of the second quarter for her first points. It was the most first-half points since scoring 42 against N.C. State on Feb. 22.  

UNC expanded the lead to 12 on two Gakdeng layups, as Michigan State went scoreless for more than four minutes. Hallock’s layup with 5:28 left in the third quarter cut it to nine. Two minutes later, a Kelly 3-pointer pushed it back to 12. The Heels led 44–35 entering the fourth quarter.

Three DeeDee Hagemann free throws with 48 seconds and her steal and layup 10 seconds later cut UNC’s lead to three before the Tar Heels held off the Spartans.

Ayrault and Hallock led the Spartans with 14 points, with Joiner scoring 13 points and four 3-pointers.

NOTES — Sunday’s game will be UNC’s first on a broadcast network since the Tar Heels’ 88–47 loss at UConn on Jan. 9, 2010, was on CBS. … UNC’s 59 points marked the team’s third-lowest score in a win this season, behind only Vermont (54–51) and Wake Forest (58–50). … Key was the first Tar Heel off the bench, and Barker (wearing a mask after breaking her nose at Boston College on Feb. 29) was the second. … Carolina leads the series with Michigan State 5–1, with the lone loss 72–66 at East Lansing, Mich., on Dec. 3, 2009. … The Tar Heels are 3–0 against the Spartans in the NCAA tournament, earlier winning second-round games in Chapel Hill in 1997 (81–71 in overtime) and 2014 (62–54). … This is the third consecutive season that UNC has made the second round, after beating Stephen F. Austin 79–66 in 2022 and St. John’s 61–59 last season. … UNC is 51–29 in NCAA tournament play. … As expected, neither sophomore Paulina Paris nor redshirt sophomore Reniya Kelly were in uniform. Paris, according to sources, has been cleared medically but hasn’t been practicing with the team while practicing on her own. She last played on Jan. 14. Kelly, who last played Feb. 11 at Duke, was using crutches and had a heavy brace over her left knee. … Indya Nivar (3 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals) made her fifth start of the season and first since Feb. 25 at Virginia Tech. … A separate UNC pep band from the one in Charlotte for the men’s games (29 musicians, which is the NCAA limit) was on hand for the game.

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UNC 59, Michigan State 56

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Date	Day/month	Score	Opponent/event (current rank)	Record
	November
8	Wednesday	W, 102–49	vs. Gardner-Webb	1–0
12	Sunday	W, 74–70	vs. Davidson	2–0
15	Wednesday	W, 62–32	vs. Hampton	3–0
18	Saturday	W, 68–39	vs. Elon	4–0
			Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Fla.
24	Friday	W, 54–51	Vermont	5–0
25	Saturday	L, 63–56	No. 15 Kansas State	5–1
26	Sunday	L, 65–64	Florida Gulf Coast	5–2
			ACC/SEC Women’s Challenge
30	Thursday	L, 65–58	vs. No. 1 South Carolina	5–3
	December
6	Wednesday	W, 81–66	vs. UNC Greensboro	6–3
			Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase in Uncasville, Conn.
10	Sunday	L, 76–64	No. 10 Connecticut	6–4
			———————
15	Friday	W, 96–36	vs. Western Carolina	7–4
			Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte
19	Tuesday	W, 61–52	No. 18 Oklahoma	8–4
			ACC season
31	Sunday	W, 82–76	vs. Clemson	9–4, 1–0 ACC
	January
4	Thursday	W, 75–51	vs. No. 22 Syracuse	10–4, 2–0 ACC
7	Sunday	W, 61–57	at No. 9 Notre Dame	11–4, 3–0 ACC
11	Thursday	L, 70–62	at Florida State	11–5, 3–1 ACC
14	Sunday	W, 81–68	vs. Virginia	12–5, 4–1 ACC
18	Thursday	W, 73–68	at Georgia Tech	13–5, 5–1 ACC
21	Sunday	W, 79–68	vs. No. 23 Louisville	14–5, 6–1 ACC
25	Thursday	W, 66–61	vs. Miami	15–5, 7–1 ACC
28	Sunday	L, 81–66	at Virginia	15–6, 7–2 ACC
	February
1	Thursday	L, 63–59	at No. 11 N.C. State	15–7, 7–3 ACC
4	Sunday	L, 70–61, OT	vs. No. 13 Virginia Tech	15–8, 7–4 ACC
11	Sunday	L, 68–60, OT	at Duke	15–9, 7–5 ACC
15	Thursday	W, 75–62	vs. Pittsburgh	16–9, 8–5 ACC
18	Sunday	W, 58–50	at Wake Forest	17–9, 9–5 ACC
22	Thursday	W, 80–70	vs. No. 11 N.C. State	18–9, 10–5 ACC
25	Sunday	L, 74–62	at No. 13 Virginia Tech	18–10, 10–6 ACC
29	Thursday	L, 78–74	at Boston College	18–11, 10–7 ACC
	March
3	Sunday	W, 63–59	vs. Duke	19–11, 11–7 ACC
			ACC tournament Greensboro Coliseum
7	Thursday	L, 60–59	Second round: vs. Miami	19–12
			NCAA tournament Columbia, S.C.
22	Friday	W, 59–56	First round: Michigan State	20–12
24	Sunday	L, 88–41	Second round: No. 1 South Carolina	20–13

Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics