By R.L. Bynum

CHAPEL HILL — No. 11 North Carolina can’t keep all of its guards healthy, but whoever the Tar Heels roll out there, they just keep rolling.

A game after redshirt freshman Kayla McPherson made her long-awaited college debut came news that fifth-year player Eva Hodgson will miss three to four weeks with an upper-body injury. She joins reserve guard Ariel Young (knee injury) on the sidelines.

After a skittish offensive start, the Tar Heels steamrolled Virginia with a 20–5 second-quarter run and coasted to their eighth consecutive victory, 73–62, Thursday at Carmichael Arena.

“This team is hard to guard when we’ve got all of our pieces getting better and better and better,” said UNC coach Courtney Banghart, 7–0 against Virginia, after her team shot 53.1%, its best against an ACC team this season.

Banghart said she’s seen a lot of maturation from her team since it lost the first three conference games. That’s led to the Tar Heels (18–5, 8–3 ACC) playing better defensively and improving game-by-game on the offensive end.

“The ball is moving better,” said Banghart, whose team is a game out of first place. “They have a better understanding of how each other can be helpful in it; our movement’s better. I figured them out better. It took me a little bit of time to figure them out. And then, defensively, we’re way better — more engaged, way more active.”

Carolina will miss Hodgson’s leadership, spunky play and perimeter shooting, but Paulina Paris has slipped into her starting role nicely. McPherson demonstrated the depth of talent by becoming the seventh Tar Heel to lead the team in scoring, collecting 14 points and two 3-pointers and eliciting a few head-turns from home fans seeing her play in person for the first time.

“There’s a lot of talent on this team and that gives us a lot of depth that helps us,” Banghart said.

Four other Tar Heels scored in double figure — Deja Kelly (13 points, five rebounds and two assists), Alyssa Ustby (12 points, three steals), Kennedy Todd-Williams (11 points, three assists, one steal) and Anya Poole (11 points, tying a season-high, eight rebounds and two steals)

McPherson admitted to not being entirely in rhythm in her debut against Clemson, but there were no such issues against the Cavaliers (14–9, 3–9).

“I just needed one to get under my belt,” said McPherson, who was a game-high +18 in 18½ minutes. “Coach trusts me to do what I do, so I just go out there and do it.”

After driving past two defenders in transition and making a nice bounce pass to Ally Zelaya for a layup for her game-high fourth assist, McPherson had a huge smile at midcourt as she celebrated heading into a time out.

“I just love playing with these people, with these kids,” McPherson said. “They’re so fun to be on the court with, so any time I can get them a good shot, I’m just excited for them.”

The emotions of the last two games were obvious after she missed all of last season recovering from a right knee injury, then the first 21 games of this season with a left knee injury.

“There’s a lot of excitement,” McPherson said. “I mean, I’ve been waiting on this for a long time. So to finally be out here playing with them, it’s just excitement.”

Hodgson was upbeat and active before and during the game encouraging her teammates.

“Luckily, it’s not super-serious,” Banghart said. “So, Eva will be back before the very end of the season. She’ll be back, so it’s not like Kayla, where we had to lose her for a long period of time.”

Poole has been a steady force inside fighting for rebounds and battling some of the biggest centers in the ACC but she also showed off a couple of nice jumpers Thursday.

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“Today, I was like, if y’all aren’t gonna guard me, I’m just gonna shoot it. If it goes in, it goes in,” Poole said.

Banghart praised Poole’s play during the long win streak.

“The last month, she’s really playing well, which is why we’re playing so much better,” Banghart said.

Poole says she’ll do whatever her team needs most, whether it’s rebounding, scoring or cheering.

“I think my teammates are trusting in me to take the shots that I need to take,” Poole said. “And if I don’t have it, to kick it out to them and keep posting. We get hammered [into us] every day to post up. If you’re not doing anything, your man is defending the ball. So, I’ve got it in my head to engage my defender, and my teammates got it to me, so I scored.”

Carolina went the first 6:43 without a field goal before Poole’s first jumper. But the Heels only trailed 6–5 because Virginia also got off to a slow offensive start.

McPherson gave UNC a 9–8 lead after one quarter on a driving layup and 3-pointer. It was Carolina’s second consecutive game with single digits in a quarter after scoring only seven in the third period at Clemson on Sunday.

The Tar Heels took control by making nine of their first 10 shots in a 20–5 run to start the second quarter, capped by consecutive layups by Poole, Ustby, McPherson and Kelly to lead by 16. The lead hit 17 before UNC took a 33–21 halftime advantage.

Virginia pulled within eight on a McKenna Dale 3-pointer midway through the third quarter. But McPherson capped a 10–2 Carolina run with a layup to shove the lead to 16 and the Heels took a 53–40 advantage into the final quarter.

Forward London Clarkson came off the bench to lead Virginia with 23 points, with guard Dale adding 15 points and three 3-pointers.

NOTES — The crowd for Carolina’s noon game Sunday at Louisville (16–8, 7–4) will likely be the largest of the season. For home games, the Cardinals’ smallest crowd has been 7,311, and they drew 11,175 for the N.C. State game. Louisville ended a two-game losing streak with a 79–67 win Sunday at Syracuse and had Thursday off. … Ustby is among the top 10 candidates for the Cheryl Miller Award, which goes to the nation’s top small forward. … The Tar Heels finished off a season sweep of Virginia after beating the Cavaliers 70–59 on Jan. 12 to extend their lead in the series to 58–35 with wins in 27 of the last 30 meetings.

No. 11 UNC 73, Virginia 62

UNC lineup combinations

Score	Time	1	2	3	4	5	Segment score
Starters	10:00	Kelly	Paris	Todd- Williams	Ustby	Poole	5–6
5–6	2:58	McPherson	Kelly			Key	2–2
7–8	1:13				Key	Zelaya	3–0,
9–8	0:41			Paris			0–0
9–9	End 1				Adams		5–2
14–11	7:57	Kelly	Paris	T-W			0–0
14–11	7:30	Paris	T-W	Ustby			2–0
16–11	7:30					Poole	4–0
20–11	5:56	McPherson	Kelly	T-W	Ustby		11–5
31–16	2:13					Key	2–2
33–18	1:13				Adams		0–3
33–21	Half	Kelly	Paris		Ustby	Poole	6–9
39–30	5:04	McPherson	Kelly	Paris			10–5
49–35	2:23			T-W		Key	0–0
49–35	1:50				Key	Zelaya	15–14
64–49	6:31(4)			Paris		Poole	2–0
66–49	5:31	Kelly	Paris	Adams			2–3
68–52	4:18			Ustby	Adams	Key	2–2
70–54	3:32	Paris	Ustby	Adams	Key	Tshitenge	3–8
73–62	Final

ACC standings

Team	League	Overall
No. 10 Notre Dame	15–3	24–4
No. 11 Duke	14–4	24–5
No. 9 Virginia Tech	14–4	24–4
No. 23 Florida State	12–6	23–8
Louisville	12–6	21–10
No. 22 North Carolina	11–7	20–9
Miami	11–7	18–11
N.C. State	9–9	19–10
Syracuse	9–9	18–11
Clemson	7–11	16–14
Boston College	5–13	15–16
Wake Forest	5–13	14–15
Virginia	4–14	15–14
Georgia Tech	4–14	13–16
Pittsburgh	3–15	10–19

Thursday’s results
No. 9 Virginia Tech 61, No. 22 North Carolina 59
No. 10 Notre Dame 76, Georgia Tech 53
No. 23 Florida State 61, Wake Forest 60
Syracuse 85, Pittsburgh 55
Louisville 71, Miami 50
Clemson 79, Virginia 69
No. 11 Duke 77, N.C. State 62
Sunday’s results
No. 22 North Carolina 45, No. 11 Duke 41
No. 10 Notre Dame 68, Louisville, noon, ESPN3
Miami 84, Virginia 75
Boston College 73, Wake Forest 63
Clemson 74, No. 23 Florida State 61
N.C. State 68, Pittsburgh at 63
No. 9 Virginia Tech 65, Georgia Tech 52
End of regular season

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