By R.L. Bynum
With two more non-conference games before the No. 25 North Carolina women open ACC play on New Year’s Eve against Clemson, there’s a lot of frustration but also plenty of hope.
The frustration has come from the nagging injuries that have forced Coach Courtney Banghart to improvise her rotation game-by-game based on who the sports medicine staff clears to play each game day.
A full roster probably won’t be needed for the 7 p.m. Friday home game against a struggling Western Carolina team (ESPN3) that has lost six straight games and is 2–8 with one win over a Division I school.
The hope is the potential for UNC (6–4) once every scholarship player Banghart expected to play this season is available.
“I really like this roster,” Banghart said. “It’s hard not to get discouraged, but you don’t coach a team just on good days. It’s just part of the process, and it’s gonna get a lot of experience to some other guys that are gonna get a lot of minutes out of the deal. It’s an untold story that we have so many All-Americans that are not playing basketball right now, and that’s a bummer.”
The healthy players got such heavy minutes that UNC faltered in the second half, making uncharacteristic mistakes, as No. 17 UConn pulled away Sunday at the Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase in Uncasville, Conn., for a 76–64 victory.
The health issues started in the preseason with the announcement that two highly touted freshmen would redshirt while recovering from surgeries — five-star stretch four Ciera Toomey (right ACL surgery) and last season’s Indiana Player of the Year, wing Laila Hull (surgery to repair her torn right labrum).
Redshirt sophomore forward Teonni Key still hasn’t made her season debut as she recovers from a right foot injury, but was in uniform for the first time for Sunday’s game and should play this month.
Two guards — redshirt sophomore Kayla McPherson and sophomore Paulina Paris — have missed the last two games with undisclosed injuries, and a third — freshman Reniya Kelly, a four-star recruit — sat out the second half against the Huskies with a concussion after a strong second quarter. Senior center Anya Poole missed three games with a lower-body injury.
Only three players — senior guard Deja Kelly, senior wing Alyssa Ustby and junior center Maria Gakdeng — have started all 10 games, and sophomore Indya Nivar and Reniya Kelly are the only other Tar Heels who have played in every game.
Deja Kelly (team-leading 15.6 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game) and Ustby (10.9 points, team-leading and 6th in the ACC 8.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.0 steals), as expected, have been the team leaders.
But the Tar Heels have been solid inside, with Gakdeng (11.2 points, 6.8 rebounds per game) starting and Poole (4.1 points, 4.1 rebounds) logging productive minutes off the bench.
“We like our inside game a lot,” Banghart said. “[Gakdeng] just wants to do whatever we need her to do, just in terms of her angles, in terms of her length and walling up on D. She’s just so coachable. She’s so dying to learn and to be good. She looks at you right through the eyes and wants to get better. Her progression is because she works at it.”
Carolina needs to get the ball more to Gakdeng, seventh in the league with 1.3 blocks per game, because she’s a dangerous scorer. The best proof is that she would lead the ACC in field-goal percentage at 70.8% by a wide margin if she weren’t five attempts short of qualifying.
Junior 5–9 guard Chelsea Wooten, a College of Charleston transfer, is the only Catamount averaging double-figure points at 11.7 per game. Graduate 6–0 center Lonasia Brewer, a former player at Toledo and Akron, averages 8.2 points and a team-high 5.6 rebounds per game. Junior 5–8 guard Jada Burton averages 7.4 points, 4.3 assists, 1.7 steals and 4.2 turnovers.
NOTES — After Friday’s game against the Catamounts, UNC plays Oklahoma at 9:30 Tuesday night in the Jumpman Invitational at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center (ESPN2). That’s the last non-conference game before facing Clemson (6–4, 1–0 ACC) at Carmichael Arena at noon on Dec. 31. The Sooners (6–3) upset Ole Miss 80–70 and beat Virginia 82–67 but have lost three of their last four, including a 92–76 home loss to unranked UNLV at home on Saturday. … UNC leads the series with Western Carolina 11–1, losing to the Catamounts 92–72 on Feb. 20, 1976. The Tar Heels won the last meeting in a season opener 92–55 on Nov. 7, 2019. … UNC is third in the ACC in scoring defense (57.6 points per game) and turnover margin (+6.6) and fourth in defensive rebound percentage (73.8%).
UNC season statistics
| Date | Day/month | Time | Opponent/event (current ranks) | TV/ record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | ||||
| 30 | Thursday | L, 91–82 | No. 3 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. 4 Texas | 8–2 |
| ——————————— | ||||
| 7 | Sunday | W, 82–40 | vs. Boston Univ. | 9–2 |
| 14 | Sunday | L, 76–66, OT | vs. No. 78 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 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 | 6 p.m. | at N.C. State | ESPN2 |
| 5 | Thursday | 7 p.m. | vs. Clemson | ACCN |
| 8 | Sunday | 2 p.m. | vs. Wake Forest | ACCN |
| 12 | Thursday | 6 p.m. | vs. SMU | ACCN |
| 15 | Sunday | 1 p.m. | at No. 20 Duke | ABC |
| 19 | Thursday | 6 p.m. | at Virginia Tech | ACCN |
| 22 | Sunday | Noon | vs. Pittsburgh | ACCN |
| 26 | Thursday | 7 p.m. | at Virginia | ACCN Extra |
| March | ||||
| 1 | Sunday | Noon | vs. No. 20 Duke | ESPN |
| ACC tournament | ||||
| 4–8 | Wed.-Sun | Gas South Arena, Duluth, Ga. | ||
| NCAA tournament | ||||
| 20–24 | Fri.-Mon. | First, second rounds | ||
| 27–30 | Fri.-Mon. | Regionals Fort Worth, Texas, and Sacramento, Calif. | ||
| April | ||||
| 3, 5 | Fri., Sun | Final Four Phoenix |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
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