By R.L. Bynum

CHAPEL HILL — The model of efficiency through two games is Carolina’s do-everything wing Alyssa Ustby.

The athletic junior, who showed in the offseason that her talents include kicking field goals at Kenan Stadium, said she was “a little banged up” after her September participation on the United States three-on-three team in Romania and summer workouts.

That limited her in the preseason and led to minutes restrictions. She’s making the most of every minute. Ustby scored 14 points in 18 minutes Saturday as No. 12 Carolina (2–0) took control in the second quarter and cruised to a 75–48 victory over TCU (1–1).

“Just to preserve myself for the rest of the season, we just took it easy,” Ustby said, adding that she had no specific injury and she hopes that was the last game with minute limits.

Through two games, Ustby has 33 points in 36 minutes.

“I don’t know, I’m just out there having fun,” Ustby said. “I give a lot of credit to my teammates because they make great passes to me right into the basket, so they make my job easy.”

UNC coach Courtney Banghart said that she’s pretty sure the restrictions will end starting with Wednesday’s game against South Carolina State.

“We’re just a better team with Alyssa in,” Banghart said. “It’s been hard because she’s been coming back from some soreness. So, we’ve been slowly bringing her back. And it’s really hard; it’s hard for her, and it’s hard for me because we just like her on the floor. But her efficiency, she knows she has to be efficient because of her restriction, and I know that as we lift that, she’ll still be efficient.”

The Tar Heels are weathering other early-season challenges, with only nine available players for the second consecutive game as Teonni Key, Ariel Young and Kayla McPherson all didn’t play. But all nine scored, with five in double figures.

Point guard Deja Kelly didn’t shoot well (4 of 12 from the floor) but was productive otherwise on both ends of the floor with 12 points, seven assists and a career-high-tying four steals. With Kennedy Todd-Williams adding 14 points, three rebounds and two steals, the Heels had no trouble.

Kelly is from San Antonio and said, “it always feels good to beat up on a Texas school,” so the win was huge for her.

“I know that I’m not just a scorer; I’m a playmaker guard,” said Kelly, who added that her left ankle is doing better and will benefit from having Sunday off. “So, I’m trying to find ways to impact the game in a variety of ways.”

UNC had trouble penetrating the Horned Frogs’ matchup zone for much of the first half, and going 2 of 10 from 3-point range didn’t help.

“Yeah, we tried to break it down; we tried to kind of be surgical as opposed to aggressive, and once we sped up [we played well],” Banghart said.

Carolina finally found its offensive rhythm when Paulina Paris’ jumper ended a nearly five-minute scoring drought with 6:36 left in the first half, and good defense led to more offense. That started an 11–0 run after TCU took a 17–15 lead into the second quarter. Sophmore Destiny Adams had a layup and a block during that run.

“Defensively, our positioning led to deflections, contested shots, which led to some steals,” Banghart said. “We were able to ratchet up our defense, and playing faster on offense allowed us to get more open looks as well. Really, it came down to our pace. Everyone plays zone a little bit differently, so you feel it out a little bit.”

UNC held the Horned Frogs scoreless for more than eight second-quarter minutes and led 30–24 at halftime.

“It’s just one of those things you got to get used to it,” Ustby said of TCU’s zone. “Once you have a couple of possessions against that zone, then get comfortable, and you can find where the gaps are that you can score from and the sequence of passes that you need.”

The Tar Heels kept up that momentum by opening the second half with a 10–3 run, which Anya Poole sandwiched with layups. Poole went to the bench shortly afterward, though, with four fouls.

“Defensively, we gave ourselves a chance to win throughout the game, which was huge,” said Banghart, noting that Eva Hodgson had an excellent all-around game despite also not shooting well (1 of 6). “I think for what Deja and Eva did, not shoot well and impacting the game in so many other ways, that’s growth for our team.”

Hodgson contributed seven points, seven rebounds and four assists.

For the second game in a row, a reserve scored in double figures; this time it was Adams, who had 10 points, seven rebounds, a block and a steal.

“Destiny 2.0 is a better version than Destiny 1.0,” Banghart said. “She took a little bit of a slow start, and she relied so much on her athleticism last year.”

Two Todd-Williams layups and a Kelly 3-point play punctuated a 17–0 UNC run that shoved the lead to 57–30 entering the fourth quarter. Kelly scored seven points during that run.

TCU went from scoring 17 first-quarter points to combining for 13 in the middle two quarters.

TCU guard Tomi Taiwo, an Iowa transfer, scored all her team-high 15 points in the second half.

NOTES — Carolina plays an 11 a.m. home game Wednesday against South Carolina State (ACC Network Extra/ESPN3). The Bulldogs, 4–25 last season, are 0–3 record after a 71–35 Monday loss at East Carolina, a 50–41 Thursday defeat at Queens University and a 61–35 Saturday setback at St. Thomas. … UNC has won 17 consecutive regular-season nonconference games, the longest streak since winning 42 in a row from Dec. 12, 2004, to Dec. 2, 2007. … UNC is 25–2 under Banghart (including 17–1 at home) in nonconference play. … Carolina is 3–0 all-time against TCU.

No. 12 UNC 75, TCU 48

UNC lineup combinations

Score	Time	1	2	3	4	5	Segment score
Starters	10:00	Kelly	Hodgson	Todd-Williams	Ustby	Poole	12–6
12–6	3:56				Adams		1–9
13–15	59.3	Hodgson	Paris			Zelaya	2–2
15–17	End 1st	Kelly	Hodgson	Paris			0–2
15–19	8:43		Paris	T-W			0–0
15–19	7:42		Hodgson	Paris			0–0
15–19	6:43					Poole	7–0
22–19	3:25				Ustby		4–0
26–19	1:58					Tshitenge	4–5
30–24	Half			T-W		Poole	10–3
40–27	6:32					Zelaya	0–3
40–30	5:23				Adams		6–0
46–30	3:26		Paris				11–0
57–30	48.9	Hodgson					4–4
61–35	8:06 (4th)				Ustby	Tshitenge	2–3
63–38	6:22	Kelly	Hodgson	Paris			3–0
66–38	5:06			T-W			3–3
69–41	4:14				Tshitenge	Poole	0–0
69–41	4:04		Paris				4–2
73–43	1:43	Hodgson		Adams			2–5
75–48	Final

Date	Month/day	Time/score	Opponent/event (current ranking)	Location	Record
	November
9	Wednesday	W, 91–59	Jackson State	Home	1–0
12	Saturday	W, 75–48	TCU	Home	2–0
16	Wednesday	W, 93–25	South Carolina State	Home	3–0
20	Sunday	W, 76–65	James Madison	Harrisonburg, Va.	4–0
			*Phil Knight Invitational*
24	Thursday	W, 85–79	Oregon	Portland	5–0
27	Sunday	W, 73–64	No. 17 Iowa State	Portland	6–0
	December		*ACC/Big Ten Challenge*
1	Thursday	L, 87–63	No. 2 Indiana	Bloomington, Ind.	6–1
7	Wednesday	W, 64–42	UNCW	Home	7–1
11	Sunday	W, 99–67	Wofford	Home	8–1
16	Friday	W, 89–47	USC Upstate	Home	9–1
			*Jumpman Invitational*
20	Tuesday	L, 76–68	No. 18 Michigan	Charlotte	9–2
			ACC season begins
29	Thursday	L, 78–71	Florida State	Home	9–3, 0–1 ACC
	January
1	Sunday	L, 68–65	No. 4 Virginia Tech	Blacksburg, Va.	9–4, 0–2 ACC
5	Thursday	L, 62–58	Miami	Coral Gables, Fla.	9–5, 0–3 ACC
8	Sunday	W, 60–50	No. 10 Notre Dame	Home	10–5, 1–3 ACC
12	Thursday	W, 70–59	Virginia	Charlottesville, Va.	11–5, 2–3 ACC
15	Sunday	W, 56–47	N.C. State	Home	12–5, 3–3 ACC
19	Thursday	W, 61–56	No. 13 Duke	Home	13–5, 4–3 ACC
22	Sunday	W, 70–57	Georgia Tech	Home	14–5, 5–3 ACC
26	Thursday	W, 72–57	Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh	15–5, 6–3 ACC
29	Sunday	W, 69–58	Clemson	Clemson	16–5, 7–3 ACC
	February
2	Thursday	W, 73–62	Virginia	Home	17–5, 8–3 ACC
5	Sunday	L, 62–55	Louisville	Louisville	17–6, 8–4 ACC
9	Thursday	L, 75–67	Syracuse	Syracuse	17–7, 8–5 ACC
12	Sunday	W, 73–55	Boston College	Home	18–7, 9–5 ACC
16	Thursday	L, 77–66, OT	N.C. State	Raleigh	18–8, 9–6 ACC
19	Sunday	W, 71–58	Wake Forest	Home	19–8, 10–6 ACC
23	Thursday	L, 61–59	No. 4 Virginia Tech	Home	19–9, 10–7 ACC
26	Sunday	W, 45–41	No. 13 Duke	Durham	20–9, 10–8 ACC
	March		*ACC Tournament*
2	Thursday	W, 68–58	Clemson	Greensboro	21–9
3	Friday	L, 44–40	No. 13 Duke	Greensboro	21–10
			*NCAA tournament*
18	Saturday	W, 61–59	St. John’s	Columbus, Ohio	22–10
20	Monday	L, 71–69	No. 12 Ohio State	Columbus, Ohio	22–11