By R.L. Bynum

The No. 16 Carolina women’s basketball team is scheduled to play two closed scrimmages in preparation for the Tar Heels’ Nov. 8 opener against Gardner-Webb, with one that promises to be a significant test.

The Tar Heels will play at Charlotte on Sunday, then meet UCLA next weekend in Dallas, according to sources.

The Bruins, No. 4 in the AP Top 25 preseason poll, are picked to finish second in the last season of the Pac-12 Conference. UCLA went 27–10 last season, losing 59–43 to South Carolina in a Sweet 16 game in Greenville, S.C.

UCLA brought in 6–7 center Lauren Betts in the offseason as a transfer from Stanford. ESPN ranked Betts  No. 4 in the 2023 transfer portal, right behind UNC’s Lexi Donarski, who transferred from Iowa State. The scrimmage will reunite Betts with former Stanford teammate Indya Nivar, who transferred to Carolina.

During the regular season, Carolina will play seven (potentially eight) games against teams ranked in the preseason poll: No. 2 UConn, No. 6 South Carolina, No. 8 Virginia Tech (twice), No. 10 Notre Dame, No. 17 Louisville, No. 18 Florida State and potentially No. 3 Iowa on the third day of the Gulf Coast Showcase.

UNC last played UCLA in the regular season on Nov. 16, 2014, beating the Bruins 84–68 in Chapel Hill.

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Carolina originally was going to have a closed scrimmage before last season with South Carolina, but it got canceled because of injuries on the Tar Heels roster.

Charlotte went 12–19 last season and lost seven of its last eight games. The teams met in the regular season on Nov. 14, 2021, in Charlotte, with the Tar Heels winning 89–33. On Dec. 6, 2020, Carolina beat Charlotte 81–75 in Chapel Hill.

Division I teams can play either two exhibition games against Division II teams, two closed scrimmages against Division I teams or one of both.

The UNC No. 19 men’s team opted for the later. The Tar Heels faced No. 10 Florida Atlantic in a closed scrimmage Saturday, reportedly winning by more than 20 points, and will meet St. Augustine’s at 7:30 Friday night in an exhibition at the Smith Center.

Date	Day/month	Scores	Opponent/event (current ranks)	Record
	October
30	Thursday	L, 91–82	No. 4 South Carolina in Atlanta	Exhib.
	November
3	Monday	W, 90–42	vs. N.C. Central	1–0
6	Thursday	W, 71–37	vs. Elon	2–0
			WBCA Challenge Las Vegas
13	Thursday	L, 78–60	vs. No. 2 UCLA	2–1
15	Saturday	W, 82–68	vs. Fairfield	3–1
			———————————
20	Thursday	W, 85–50	at N.C. A&T	4–1
23	Sunday	W, 94–48	vs. UNCG	5–1
			Cancun Challenge Cancun, Mexico
27	Thursday	W, 83–48	vs. South Dakota St.	6–1
28	Friday	W, 85–73	vs. Kansas State	7–1
29	Saturday	W, 80–63	vs. Columbia	8–1
	December		ACC/SEC Women’s Challenge
4	Thursday	W, 79–64	at No. 3 Texas	8–2
			———————————
7	Sunday	W, 82–40	vs. Boston Univ.	9–2
14	Sunday	L, 76–66, OT	vs. No. 13 Louisville	9–3, 0–1 ACC
17	Wednesday	W, 84–34	vs. UNCW	10–3
21	Sunday	W, 93–74	vs. Charleston Southern	11–3
29	Monday	W, 90–38	at Boston College	12–3, 1–1 ACC
	January
1	Thursday	W, 71–55	vs. California	13–3, 2–1
4	Sunday	L, 77–71, OT	vs. Stanford	13–4, 2–2
11	Sunday	L, 73–50	at No. 22 Notre Dame	13–5, 2–3
15	Thursday	W, 73–62	vs. Miami	14–5, 3–3
18	Sunday	W, 82–55	at Florida State	15–5, 4–3
22	Thursday	W, 54–46	at Georgia Tech	16–5, 5–3
25	Sunday	W, 77–71, OT	vs. Syracuse	17–5, 6–3
	February
2	Monday	W, 61–59	at N.C. State	18–5, 7–3
5	Thursday	W, 53–44	vs. Clemson	19–5, 8–3
8	Sunday	W, 84–56	vs. Wake Forest	20–5, 9–3
12	Thursday	W, 94–42	vs. SMU	21–5, 10–3
15	Sunday	L, 72–68	at No. 8 Duke	21–6, 10–4
19	Thursday	W, 66–63, OT	at Virginia Tech	22–6, 11–4
22	Sunday	W, 78–50	vs. Pittsburgh	23–6, 12–4
26	Thursday	W, 82–70	at Virginia	24–6, 13–4
	March
1	Sunday	W, 72–69	vs. No. 8 Duke	25–6, 14–4
	ACC tournament		Gas South Arena, Duluth, Ga.
6	Friday	W, 85–68	Quarterfinal vs. Va. Tech	26–6
7	Saturday	L, 65–57	Semifinal vs. No. 13 Louisville	26–7
			NCAA tournament Fort Worth 1 Regional
21	Friday	W, 82–51	First round in Chapel Hill: vs. Western Illinois	27–7
23	Sunday	W, 74–66	Second round in Chapel Hill: No. 17 Maryland	28–7
27	Friday	L, 63–52	Sweet 16 in Fort Worth, Texas: vs. No. 1 UConn	28–8

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(UNC is one below the 15-player limit)

Year	No.		Players	Pos.	Height
Freshman	11		Kate Harpring	PG	5–10
Freshman	52		Noelle Bofia	F	6–4
Sophomore	3		Gabby White — W	G	5–10
Sophomore	7		Nyla Brooks	W	6–1
Sophomore	26		Taissa Queiroz	G	6–1
Junior	34		Blanca Thomas	C	6–5
Junior	1		Jordan Zubich	G	5–11
RS junior	21		Ciera Toomey	F	6–4
RS junior	4		Laila Hull	W	6–1
Senior	5		Sophie Burrows — X	G	6–2
Senior	8		Achol Akot — Y	F	6–1
Senior	10		Reniya Kelly	G	5–7
Senior	15		Sydney Barker	G	5–6
Graduate	13		Chloe Clardy — Z	G	5–9

W — Virginia transfer; X — Syracuse transfer; Y — Oklahoma State transfer; Z — Stanford transfer

Former players who entered transfer portal

Player	Class next season	Pos.	Hgt	Next school
Elina Aarnisalo	Junior	G	5–10	UCLA
Lanie Grant	Junior	G	5–9	TCU
Taliyah Henderson	Sophomore	W	6–1	Clemson
Liza Astakhova	Sophomore	G	6–2	BYU

Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics Communications