By R.L. Bynum
No. 20 North Carolina took many of No. 21 Florida State’s best punches over the first 2½ quarters but the Seminoles had trouble delivering the knockout punch.
Deja Kelly wouldn’t let that happen as she ensured the Tar Heels fought back … until she fouled out on a questionable call with 5:05 left. Kelly, who picked up two fouls in the first 1:18 of the game, wasn’t happy with the officiating.
Kelly broke out of a shooting slump to score 23 points and help the Heels cut a season-high 21-point deficit to five. An Anya Poole free throw with 1:41 left pulled UNC within three, but No. 21 Florida State scored the last five points to hold on for a 70–62 victory in Tallahassee, Fla.
“Every game we play on our schedule is an opportunity, so this feels like we gave one away,” Carolina coach Courtney Banghart said. “We knew we had a big challenge, and I’m even more inspired by what’s in that locker room after a night like tonight.”
The terrific defense that typified the five-game win streak for UNC (11–5, 3–1 ACC) was absent until midway through the second half when Carolina went on a 29–14 run to get back into the game.
“We don’t give up,” Kelly said. “Our main discussion was that we knew we could come back, and we knew we just had to fight and do the things that we were supposed to do coming into this game, which was attack with purpose on the offensive end and really lock into the defensive end and get stops. We weren’t really doing either on the first half.”
Carolina wouldn’t have had a shot at a rally without the play of Kelly, who was 10 of 22 from the floor with three rebounds and three assists.
“I know she hasn’t been shooting well, but she’s been leading well, and her team’s been playing well,” Banghart said. “For a kid like that, I think her leadership gets under under-represented. We’ll get what we need from her. We needed a lot.”
Carolina got another big contribution off the bench from sophomore Indya Nivar with 10 points, eight rebounds and a team-high five assists, while Paulina Paris added eight points.
The Tar Heels were hit with foul trouble again. In addition to Kelly, Alyssa Ustby (six points, nine rebounds) finished with four fouls and both Paris and Teonni Key had three.
Kelly tweeted the below apology after being critical of the officiating after the game.
It was a guess what call was about to be made for both teams when a referee’s whistle blew.
“I think the game was a little fast for anybody, but especially for the refs today,” Banghart said. “I wasn’t super-trusting no matter what was called.”
Kelly said the difference in the second half was finally getting some transition baskets.
“I think we just weren’t pushing pace like we normally do and how we want to,” Kelly said. “They were making shots and hitting shots offensively. So, I think that also slowed down our transition game a little bit. In the second half, we definitely saw the shift of us getting a lot of open looks in transition and running.”
Despite UNC holding sophomore guard Ta’niya Latson, the ACC’s leading scorer, to eight points, Florida State never trailed.
“We wanted other guys to beat us, and they did,” Banghart said.
The Seminoles (13–4, 4–1) poured in 10 3-pointers, five from guard Sara Bejedi, who led the Seminoles with 23 points.
“They were really aggressive, and the basket looked really big for them at home, and I think it kind of stunned our guys, so it affected how we played offense,” Banghart said. “We were able to settle in after halftime. There’s a lot in that locker room, a lot of toughness, obviously.”
Banghart said that she didn’t make big adjustments in the second half; it was just a case of her team executing the game plan better.
“We were very certain on how they were going to defend us in the post,” Banghart said of Florida State’s double-teaming. “We just kept throwing it in there anyway and had so many turnovers. So I reminded them of what we had told them before the game to utilize the pre-help to get open shots and to attack long closeouts. So we just did that.
“In the second half, we took better care of the basketball,” Banghart said. “We wanted to set our screens lower. We knew they would go under them, which would give us a lot of openings. And so in the second half, we set up our screens better and went under them.”
Kelly sat out eight first-half minutes with those two early fouls but had 11 points before halftime. She provided most of UNC’s offense as the Heels trailed 41–26 at halftime.
It was the most points Carolina has given up in a first half this season, but the Heels went from nine turnovers in the first half to only two in the second half.
“We were aggressive,” senior center Anya Poole said of UNC. “We fought. There were a lot of things that we didn’t do in the first half that we kind of talked about during halftime.”
FSU opened the game with a 13–4 run. Two Nivar layups capped a 6–0 UNC run to cut its deficit to three, but an O’Maria Gordon 3-pointer gave the Seminoles a 19–12 lead after one quarter.
Bejedi scored nine straight points to push FSU’s lead to nine in the first 2½ minutes of the second quarter. A Carla Viegas 3-pointer gave the Noles a 15-point halftime lead after UNC went scoreless for the final 3:09.
By the time a Paris 3-pointer with 4:57 left in the third quarter ended a nearly 9½-minute UNC field-goal drought, that only cut the Tar Heels’ deficit, which was 21 points, to 17.
A Key layup capped an 11–3 run to slice UNC’s deficit to 11 with 59 seconds left in the third quarter. A Kelly jumper cut UNC’s deficit to 58–47 after three quarters.
Kelly’s jumper with 7:33 left capped a 6–0 UNC run to trim the deficit to five. Ustby’s inside bucket with 3:19 left cut the lead to four before Poole’s free throw cut it to three.
Gordon had 12 points, and Makayla Timpson added 11 points and 14 rebounds for the Seminoles.
NOTES — UNC returns home at 4 p.m. Sunday to face Virginia on Alumni Day when the 1994 national championship team will be honored. The Cavaliers (8–7, 0–4) lost 93–66 at N.C. State on Thursday night. … UNC leads the all-time series 34–18, but the Seminoles have won eight of the last nine meetings. … While Carolina made only seven of 13 free-throw attempts, Florida State hit 16 of 17.
No. 21 Florida State 70, No. 20 UNC 62
ACC standings
| Team | League | Overall |
|---|---|---|
| No. 11 Virginia Tech | 14–4 | 23–6 |
| No. 10 N.C. State | 13–5 | 25–5 |
| No. 20 Syracuse | 13–5 | 23–6 |
| No. 14 Notre Dame | 13–5 | 23–6 |
| No. 24 Louisville | 12–6 | 23–8 |
| Florida State | 12–6 | 21–9 |
| Duke | 11–7 | 19–10 |
| North Carolina | 11–7 | 19–11 |
| Miami | 8–10 | 18–11 |
| Georgia Tech | 7–11 | 16–14 |
| Virginia | 7–11 | 15–14 |
| Boston College | 5–13 | 13–18 |
| Clemson | 5–13 | 12–18 |
| Pittsburgh | 2–16 | 8–23 |
| Wake Forest | 2–16 | 6–24 |
Sunday’s games
North Carolina 63, Duke 59
Boston College 84, Pittsburgh 58
No. 10 N.C. State 75, Wake Forest 57
No. 14 Notre Dame 74, No. 24 Louisville 58
Georgia Tech 71, Miami 66, OT
Florida State 82, Clemson 79
Virginia 80, No. 11 Virginia Tech 75
ACC tournament
Greensboro Coliseum
Wednesday-Sunday
| 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 |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
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