By R.L. Bynum
CHAPEL HILL — After taking down Wake Forest the day before, Davidson came to Carolina confidently determined to challenge another ACC team.
The Wildcats gave No. 16 UNC their best shot with superior rebounding and 10 3-pointers. But the Tar Heels got the huge rebounds they needed in the final 18 seconds to hold on for a 74–70 victory Sunday night at Carmichael Arena.
“To not play great and to beat a good team when they’re playing great is a good thing,” UNC coach Courtney Banghart said. “We needed that. Usually, if the team makes 10 3s, you don’t win that game. There were a lot of big plays down the stretch. A lot of not-so-good plays down the stretch. But, for a relatively new roster, how they handled adversity is a good sign.”
Senior guard Deja Kelly led the way with 18 points and seven assists (one shy of her career-high), with two transfers — junior Maria Gakdeng from Boston College and graduate student Lexi Donarski from Iowa State — scoring 15 and senior wing Alyssa Ustby collecting 11 points, a team-high nine rebounds, three assists, three blocks and two steals.
The toughest of Carolina’s first four non-conference home opponents, Davidson (2–1), 57–52 winners at home Saturday against the Deacons, got big games from Charlise Dunn (21 points and four 3-pointers), Millie Prior (20 points) and former N.C. State player Elle Sutphin (17 points and four 3-pointers).
But the upset bid fell apart when Dunn fouled out in the last minute despite Carolina going 2 of 6 from the free-throw line in the final 18 seconds, thanks to rebounding two of those misses.
After two good shooters —Deja Kelly and Donarski —both missed pairs of free throws, Gakdeng got the rebound and went to the line with huge pressure and only a one-point lead.
Gakdeng (above photo), who shot 55.1% at the line in her two seasons with the Eagles, sank both free throws with 13.5 seconds left.
“I practice free throws on that hoop every day, before shootaround, before the game,” said Gakdeng, who scored 15 points. “I just imagined myself making my free throws. It just came naturally to me. And I knew I had to to improve on that from last season.”
After Prior split a pair of free throws with 11 seconds left, Donarski got another chance and sank both free throws with nine seconds left to put the game away.
Donarski’s huge 3-pointer with 2:30 left gave UNC a four-point lead after trailing by two minutes earlier.
“I’m just reacting to whatever my teammates create,” Donarski said. “The 3 that I hit at the end was all because of Deja. She drew all the attention of three bodies, and then basically had the choice of two other people that were open to pass it to.”
UNC (2–0) evened the rebounding totals at 34 each with the late rebounds, but the Wildcats had the edge under the glass most of the game. It didn’t help that two of the Heels’ best rebounders — senior center Anya Poole, ruled unavailable earlier in the day, and redshirt sophomore center Teonni Key, who missed her second consecutive game —were both out with lower-body injuries.
Having a banged-up team going against a good program that played well was nearly the formula for an upset.
“We had to adjust on the fly,” Banghart said. “If we’re out a big guy again, Lexi’s going to have to figure out how to rebound instead of instead of running.”
That forced Banghart to play smaller lineups, with Ustby at the five and sophomore Stanford transfer Indya Nivar at the four during stretches.
“They send five to the glass to try to slow our break, so it was a good tactical decision,” adding that Gakdeng ended up on the perimeter more because the Wildcats stretched out UNC’s offense. “You don’t have your kind of traditionally great rebounding positioning because she’s on the perimeter more.”
Carolina is used to facing teams with multiple 3-point threats, such as Virginia Tech. But it had a hard time defending the perimeter against Davidson because of its ball screens, which got the Wildcats too many open 3-point attempts.
“They get us into ball screens, and we had a couple of communication issues; that is all on us,” said Donarski (right photo), last season’s Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year. “It’s something that we talked about before the game and we just didn’t execute like we had said that we were going to. But we were able to work through it together and pull this one out. But it’s hard when a team has that many people that are true threats on the 3-point line.”
Banghart knew Davidson was good because she had a good source: assistant coach Daniel Metzelfeld joined her staff in August after being an assistant coach with the Wildcats.
“We know them very well,” Banghart said. “We know exactly what they’re doing and how they do it.”
Carolina finished the first quarter with an 11–2 run with the shorter lineup, which gave Tar Heels a 23–13 edge into the second quarter.
UNC’s five turnovers, 4 for 14 shooting and 11–9 rebounding disparity in the second quarter allowed Davidson to pull within six on Sutphin’s 3-pointer with 1:26 left before UNC took a 34–26 halftime lead.
Four Deja Kelly points and an Ustby bucket pushed the lead to 11 just over two minutes into the second half. But the Wildcats pulled within four on 3-pointers from Issy Morgan and Dunn, and trailed 58–49 heading into the fourth quarter.
Davidson scored eight straight points, including two Dunn 3-pointers, to take its first lead of the game, 64–62, with 5:10 left. After the teams traded leads twice, Ustby’s follow shot with 3:40 left gave UNC a one-point lead, then Donarski’s big 3-pointer came with 2:30 left.
After Prior converted a three-point play with 43 seconds to cut the lead to one, Deja Kelly missed a pair of free-throw attempts with 18 seconds left, but Ustby rebounded the second miss. Donarski missed two free throws with 15.2 seconds left, but Gakdeng got the rebound and made her free throws after Dunn fouled out to push the lead to 72–69.
After Prior split two free throws with 11 seconds left, Donarski made her two huge free throws.
NOTES — The Tar Heels play the third of four non-conference home games to start the season on Wednesday at 11 a.m. against Hampton (ESPN3). The Pirates will have more than a week off before the game after losing their opener at Providence 76–46 on Tuesday. … Carolina has won all five meetings with Davidson. … Redshirt sophomore guard Kayla McPherson made her season debut to start the second quarter after missing the opener with a lower-body injury but played less than seven minutes.
No. 16 UNC 74, Davidson 70
UNC lineup combinations
| Score | Time | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Segment score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starters | 10:00 | DK | RK | Donarski | Ustby | Gakdeng | 8–8 |
| 8–8 | 5:41 | Paris | 4–2 | ||||
| 12–10 | 4:13 | Nivar | Ustby | 11–3 | |||
| 23–13 | End 1 | McPherson | Gakdeng | 0–2 | |||
| 23–15 | 8:01 | DK | McPherson | Paris | 2–0 | ||
| 25–16 | 6:12 | Ustby | 5–5 | ||||
| 30–21 | 3:19 | RK | Donarski | 2–5 | |||
| 32–26 | 1:22 | Nivar | Ustby | 2–0 | |||
| 34–26 | Half | Ustby | Gakdeng | 9–11 | |||
| 43–37 | 5:20 | Paris | 15–11 | ||||
| 58–48 | :01 | Nivar | Ustby | 1–6 | |||
| 59–54 | 7:07 (4) | Paris | Donarski | Nivar | Ustby | Gakdeng | 3–10 |
| 62–64 | 5:09 | DK | Paris | Donarski | 8–5 | ||
| 70–69 | :15 | Donarski | Nivar | 4–1 | |||
| 74–70 | Final | – |
Season statistics
| 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 |
Photos courtesy of UNC Athletics Communications
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