By R.L. Bynum
CHAPEL HILL — No matter who you’re playing, you must keep your foot on the accelerator, a lesson UNCG delivered to No. 24 North Carolina on Wednesday night.
The Spartans went from 16 down in the first quarter to trailing short-handed UNC by two at halftime, and they chopped a 15-point third-quarter deficit to five.
The Tar Heels overcame a game of crazy runs to win 81–66 Wednesday at Carmichael Arena to end a three-game losing streak, thanks to Iowa State graduate transfer Lexi Donarski’s 22 points and six 3-pointers, her best totals as a Tar Heel.
Next is a battle against a perennial national power for the second time in three games, as the Tar Heels (6–3) face No. 17 UConn (5–3) in the Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase at 5 p.m. Sunday (ESPN) in Uncasville, Conn.
UNCG (6–2), as UNC coach Courtney Banghart said, “shot the crap out of the ball,” as the Spartans took advantage of a lot of open perimeter shots. They made 53.3% of their 3-pointers, but the positive for UNC is that it made 44.4%, the Tar Heels’ second-best percentage of the season (45.5% against Davidson).
“I thought they made a ton of contested twos,” Banghart said. “I don’t think we gave up a lot of uncontested twos tonight, and they made a lot of great shots. And so there were a lot of reasons for our guys to fold at times and they stuck with it.”
Carolina was down to nine available scholarship players, with redshirt sophomore forward Teonni Key still out while she recovers from a right foot injury. Also out were redshirt sophomore guard Kayla McPherson and sophomore guard Paulina Paris, who are both day-to-day with undisclosed injuries.
“Obviously, a little undermanned and had to get a lot of contributions. We needed a little bit from everybody,” Banghart said. “It’s good to get as much experience as we can for guys down the roster and try to get these guys some rest. And when it came down to it, you gotta go to the guys that have been in the moments and can help.”
Donarski, a 36.4% 3-point shooter during her three seasons at Iowa State, had made only seven of 30 3-point attempts (23.3%) in the previous five games. But Banghart said Donarski has been working hard to move without the basketball to get better shots.
“We’re doing a better job of finding lanes for her. It’s a lot of new for her and a lot of new for us with her. So, that takes some time,” Banghart said.
Donarski, who scored 32 points in one game (Feb. 13, 2021, vs. TCU) and seven 3-pointers in another (Jan. 10, 2021, at Texas Tech) for the Cyclones, got five of her 3-pointers in the second half when the Spartans went to the zone, the first time UNC had seen a zone defense in three games.
“I felt really good,” said Donarski, who had a game-high 18.7 game score. “We’ve been working on the exact shots that we all got all night, especially the last two to three days. It’s been a huge focus in practice. It feels good to see the ball go in, but also, as a team, we got the looks that we wanted, and we were really unselfish with the ball to get those right looks.”
Five other Tar Heels scored in double figures: Alyssa Ustby (13 points, five rebounds, six assists and two steals), Deja Kelly (12 points, career-high eight assists and two steals), Maria Gakdeng (12 points and six rebounds), Anya Poole (season-high 11 points and seven rebounds) and Indya Nivar (11 points, team-leading nine rebounds and a season-high five assists.)
Since UNC’s 65–58 home loss to No. 1 South Carolina six days earlier, Ustby said that the team has worked hard in practice to get better.
“We’ve been working on both ends of the floor, but specifically on the offensive side,” she said. “We’re just looking to play together and to get the looks that we want to get and not let the defense dictate what shots that we get. So [Wednesday] was a great example of what we’ve been working on for the past few days is finding the open player and being unselfish.”
Junior UNCG wing Kennedy Simpson scored 15 points and five of eight 3-pointers for the Spartans (6–3), as their three-game win streak ended.
Nivar, a sophomore Stanford transfer, started for the second time this season (also against Vermont) and the third time in her career, and walk-on freshman guard Sydney Baker played in the first half for the first time.
Carolina took control early when Ustby scored half of 14 consecutive UNC points as the Heels jumped out to a 16–2 lead in the first six minutes. UNC led by 16 points before taking a 22–9 lead into the second quarter, the seventh time it has held an opponent to single-digit points in a quarter.
“My approach for any game is to take it to them right away,” said Ustby, who had a 12.8 game score.
Kelly sat for seven first-half minutes, and Barker played for nearly two minutes in the second quarter with the game apparently well at hand.
Kelly watched for most of a run of 13 consecutive UNCG points, including three Sampson 3-pointers, which cut its deficit to two with 3:30 left in the first half.
An Ustby layup at the buzzer gave her 11 first-half points and UNC a 36–34 halftime edge after the Spartans made all five second-quarter 3-point attempts.
Carolina reclaimed control of the game with a 15–2 run, including two Donaski 3-pointers, with Kelly’s driving transition layup pushing the lead back to 15 points 3½ minutes into the second half.
The Spartans surged again, finishing the third quarter with a 9–2 run, and trailed 61–56 after three quarters. UNC responded by putting on the 1–3–1 press, starting the fourth quarter with a 12–5 run to push the lead back to 12. The Tar Heels scored the last eight points of the game, including 3-pointers from Donarski and Nivar.
NOTES — UConn played Ball State 90–63 in a home game Wednesday night. … The WNBA draft lottery will air at 4:30 p.m. Sunday on ESPN before the UNC-UConn game. … Two former UNC players are on the UNCG coaching staff — Associate Head Coach Cetera DeGraffenreid (2007–11) and Assistant Coach Alex Miller (2004–09). … Carolina faces another SoCon opponent on Dec. 14 when Western Carolina comes to Carmichael. … UNCG became the fifth UNC opponent to score at least six 3-pointers. … Carolina leads the all-time series with UNCG 14–5. … UNC’s 20 assists were its second-highest this season. … The women’s basketball team is the only Carolina team with game during the 10-day period stretching from Wednesday’s UNCG game to the Friday, Dec. 15, home game against Western Carolina, playing three games during that span.
No. 24 UNC 81, UNCG 66
UNC lineup combinations
| Score | Time | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Segment score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starters | 10:00 | DK | Donarski | Nivar | Ustby | Gakdeng | 16–4 |
| 16–4 | 3:02 | Poole | 6–5 | ||||
| 22–9 | End 1 | RK | Donarski | Zelaya | 2–4 | ||
| 24–13 | 7:41 | RK | Donarski | Nivar | 2–2 | ||
| 26–13 | 7:04 | Ustby | Gakdeng | 2–0 | |||
| 28–13 | 6:03 | Barker | 0–6 | ||||
| 28–19 | 4:18 | DK | Donarski | 0–5 | |||
| 28–24 | 3:46 (2nd) | RK | 23–21 | ||||
| 51–45 | 3:36 (3rd) | Poole | 11–7 | ||||
| 62–52 | 1:08 | Ustby | 7–9 | ||||
| 69–61 | 6:17 (4th) | Nivar | Ustby | Poole | 4–5 | ||
| 73–66 | 2:37 | Gakdeng | 8–0 | ||||
| 81–66 | Final |
| 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
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