By R.L. Bynum
CHAPEL HILL — It’s been clear from the start of the season that No. 24 Carolina has enough perimeter shooting to really flourish offensively if the Tar Heels can shoot consistently from outside the arc.
Graduate transfer Lexi Donarski kick-started that with five of her six 3-pointers in the second half, as that shooting prowess produced a season-high 11 3-pointers. The Tar Heels led by 10 late and held on for an 82–76 win over Clemson in their ACC opener Sunday at Carmichael Arena.
“I just think it’s one more way for us to make our offense really hard to guard if we’re able to shoot it a little bit better from three,” said Donarski, who broke loose for a season-high 23 points, and tied her season-high for 3s. “We’ve been working on it a lot, so it feels good to see that success.”
Carolina (8–4, 1–0 ACC) led by 10 with 1:48 left, and Clemson (8–6, 1–1) came within five before the Tar Heels put the game away with six free throws in the last 21 seconds.
“We knew they would be hard to guard,” said Banghart, who gave a shoutout to the crowd of 3,820 with the students home for the holidays. “They’ve got fifth-year seniors. They’re dangerous. They can score off the bounce. They can shoot from 3. They have really good post players. We knew it was going to be a battle. Shows you how great our league is.”
Alyssa Ustby added 21 points, 11 rebounds, two assists and two steals (her sixth double-double of the season and 28th of her career), and Deja Kelly scored 12 of her 15 points in the second half, tying her career-high with eight assists.
UNC hadn’t seen much zone this season, and, knowing that the Tigers would unleash an aggressive matchup zone, Coach Courtney Banghart talked to her team about being shot-ready — particularly in this game, and for the rest of the season — and Donarski did that beautifully.
“To me, it means getting my feet behind the ball on every catch and catching it and literally being shot-ready,” Donarski said. “My first thought is, ‘I can shoot this. I can get it off. I have enough time,’ rather than catching it to scan the floor, see if our bigs are open.”
Donarski hasn’t always released her shots that quickly this season, but she seemed to be better with that against the Tigers.
“We worked on it a lot in my individual workouts and practice and everything,” Donarski said. “It’s definitely something we’ve been focusing on. Because I personally want to make sure it’s at a really high level, and I know that I need to continue to get better.”
Carolina’s passing was impressive, slinging the ball around the perimeter to get to the ball to open shooters, and assisting on 16 of 27 field goals.
Ustby, who shuttled in and out in the final minute with four fouls, snagged the rebound after many perimeter misses on an afternoon when the Heels shot 33.3% from outside the arc, the fourth-highest this season.
“I just keep telling the guards, whenever I can, to keep shooting because I’d love to rebound,” said Ustby, who has at least 20 points in two of the last three games. “I don’t know why. It’s just a fun thing for me.”
The Tar Heels navigated the zone by playing two posts players with Ustby at the three at times, with junior transfer Maria Gakdeng (five points, nine rebounds, two steals), senior Anya Poole (four points, four rebounds) and redshirt sophomore Teonni Key (three points, one block) each getting time as the only post player.
“We adjusted to some ball-screen coverages and did a better job attacking from high post,” Banghart said. “Did a better job of attacking from the high post and getting paint touches in transition.”
Ustby scored half the points during a 16–2 run to give UNC a 14-point lead late in the first quarter before Clemson scored the last six points to trim its deficit to 19–11 entering the second quarter.
The Tigers took a 23–22 lead when Eno Inyang’s layup capped a 10–0 run with 6:12 left in the first half. UNC retook the lead on Kelly’s 3-pointer 49 seconds later, part of an 11–4 run. Another late-quarter Clemson surge sliced UNC’s halftime lead to 35–34.
“I thought we still got a lot of good looks in the first half; they just didn’t follow as much,” Donarski said. “But we really sat down with each other, and we were like, ‘Come on guys, we’re in ACC play now. We need to expect more from each other and more from ourselves, and we need to go out there and get a win.’ And so it was just really collective, and we all came together and had people step up and made shots when we needed them to.”
Donarski scored 3-pointers in three consecutive possessions as UNC opened the second half with a 9–3 run. Ustby drew her third foul, and MaKayla Elmore made two free throws with 4:55 left in the third to cut the lead that was eight to four.
“We made a lot of 3s, and we went on a huge run and that run was what put us in a better position to win the game,” Donarski said. ‘We were very unselfish and we were getting the shots in transition and on attacks, the shots that we wanted.”
Two Kelly jumpers, one a 3-pointer, shoved the lead back to nine, and an Indya Nivar 3 (one of six from UNC in the third quarter) put the lead at 11 before the Heels took a 57–46 edge into the final quarter.
Graduate forward Amari Robinson’s layup cut Clemson’s deficit to three with 6:33 left. A Donarski 3 highlighted an 11–4 run that ballooned the lead to 10 on a pair of Ustby layups, the second with 2:33 left.
Ruby Whitehorn’s layup with 22.6 seconds left cut UNC’s lead to five, but pairs of free throws from Donarski, Poole and Kelly secured the win.
Robinson scored 21 points, and Dayshan Harris had 19 to lead Clemson.
“When Harris puts her head down, they’ve got nothing to lose,” Banghart said. “There’re going straight downhill. I didn’t feel like it wasn’t in our control.”
NOTES — Carolina plays at home again at 6 p.m. Thursday (ESPN3) against Syracuse (11–1, 1–0) before visiting No. 13 Notre Dame (9–2, 0–1) at 5 p.m. Sunday (ESPN2). The host Orange upset the Irish 86–81 Sunday. … UNC’s previous best 3-point game was 10 against Gardner-Webb. … Deja Kelly also dished out eight assists on Dec. 17, 2020, against Syracuse and Dec. 6, 2023, against UNC Greensboro. … Freshman guard Reniya Kelly, who suffered a concussion in the first half of the Dec. 10 loss to UConn, missed her third consecutive game. … Redshirt sophomore guard Kayla McPherson missed her fifth consecutive game in what appears to be a long-term knee issue. … UNC has won eight straight against Clemson, and leads the all-time series 63-28, including 30–9 at Carmichael. … Tigers coach Amanda Butler is 0–7 against UNC and Banghart is 6–0 against the Tigers. … Carolina is 4–1 in ACC home openers under Banghart, with the only loss coming last season 78–71 against Florida State.
No. 25 UNC 82, Clemson 76
UNC lineup combinations
| Score | Time | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Segment score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starters | 10:00 | Kelly | Paris | Donarski | Ustby | Gakdeng | 11–5 |
| 11–5 | 2:53 | Poole | 2–0 | ||||
| 13–5 | 2:42 | Paris | Donarski | Ustby | Key | 6–2 | |
| 19–7 | 39.6 | Nivar | 0–4 | ||||
| 19–11 | 9:13 (2nd) | Kelly | Nivar | Ustby | 1–0 | ||
| 20–11 | 9:13 | Poole | Gakdeng | 2–8 | |||
| 22–19 | 6:57 | Donarski | Nivar | Ustby | 0–4 | ||
| 22–23 | 6:00 | Paris | Donarski | 7–2 | |||
| 29–25 | 4:58 | Key | 6–9 | ||||
| 35–34 | 33.9 | Paris | Donarski | Nivar | Gakdeng | 0–0 | |
| 35–34 | Half | Kelly | Paris | Donarski | 16–8 | ||
| 51–42 | 2:59 | Nivar | 6–7 | ||||
| 57–49 | End 3rd | Donarski | Nivar | Ustby | 0–2 | ||
| 57–51 | 8:00 | Ustby | Poole | 2–5 | |||
| 59–56 | 6:32 | Paris | Donarski | Ustby | Poole | 15–10 | |
| 74–66 | 43.8 | Donarski | Nivar | 0–0 | |||
| 74–66 | 38.0 | Paris | Donarski | Nivar | 0–0 | ||
| 74–66 | 33.6 | Donarski | Nivar | Ustby | 1–1 | ||
| 75–67 | 32.1 | Paris | Donarski | Nivar | 0–2 | ||
| 75–69 | 29.5 | Donarski | Nivar | Ustby | 5–2 | ||
| 80–71 | :15 | Key | 2–5 | ||||
| 82–76 | Final |
| Team | League | Overall | NET* |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. 13 Louisville | 2–0 | 12–3 | 13 |
| N.C. State | 2–0 | 9–4 | 29 |
| Syracuse | 1–0 | 11–1 | 40 |
| Stanford | 1–0 | 11–2 | 31 |
| No. 18 Notre Dame | 1–0 | 9–2 | 15 |
| Virginia | 1–0 | 9–3 | 33 |
| Duke | 1–0 | 6–6 | 28 |
| Virginia Tech | 1–1 | 11–3 | 52 |
| Wake Forest | 1–1 | 10–3 | 117 |
| Clemson | 1–1 | 9–4 | 49 |
| Miami | 1–1 | 8–4 | 46 |
| No. 16 North Carolina | 0–1 | 11–3 | 21 |
| California | 0–1 | 8–5 | 63 |
| SMU | 0–1 | 7–6 | 135 |
| Pittsburgh | 0–1 | 7–7 | 234 |
| Boston College | 0–1 | 4–10 | 215 |
| Florida State | 0–2 | 5–9 | 113 |
| Georgia Tech | 0–2 | 4–9 | 120 |
* — Through Sunday games
Saturday’s results
No. 13 Louisville 89, No. 23 Tennessee 65
Virginia 88, Winthrop 53
Florida State 77, South Carolina State 36
Duke 76, Belmont 46
Sunday’s results
No. 16 North Carolina 93, Charleston Southern 74
Virginia Tech 79, Radford 47
N.C. State 68, Davidson 49
Miami 85, Kennesaw State 55
Duquesne 84, Pittsburgh 69
Clemson 84, North Florida 62
SMU 74, Southern 62
Stanford 64, Oregon 53
No. 18 Notre Dame 110, Bellarmine 38
No. 17 USC 61, California 57
Monday’s game
Gardner-Webb at Wake Forest, 1 p.m., ACCN Extra
Sunday’s games
Wofford at Georgia Tech, noon, ACC Network
Stetson at Miami, 2 p.m., ACC Network
Clemson at Chicago State, 3 p.m.
Duke at Syracuse, 4 p.m., ACC Network
Cornell at Stanford, 4 p.m., ACCN Extra
Cal Poly at California, 5 p.m., ACCN Extra
Monday, Dec. 29, games
Pittsburgh at No. 18 Notre Dame, 6 p.m., ACCN
SMU at Virginia, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
No. 16 North Carolina at Boston College, 8 p.m., ACC Network
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. 4 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. 2 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 | 8 p.m. | at Boston College | ACCN |
| January | ||||
| 1 | Thursday | Noon | vs. California | ACCN |
| 4 | Sunday | 1 p.m. | vs. Stanford | ESPN |
| 11 | Sunday | 1 p.m. | at No. 18 Notre Dame | ESPN |
| 15 | Thursday | 7 p.m. | vs. Miami | ACCN Extra |
| 18 | Sunday | 2 p.m. | at Florida State | The CW |
| 22 | Thursday | 8 p.m. | at Georgia Tech | ACCN |
| 25 | Sunday | 2 p.m. | vs. Syracuse | The CW |
| 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 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. 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 |
Photos courtesy of UNC Athletics
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