By Jeremiah Artacho

It was a milestone victory for UNC coach Courtney Banghart and a breakout game for freshman guard Lanie Grant in No. 16 North Carolina’s 63–52 victory Saturday in the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis in Nassau, Bahama.

Grant led the way with 15 points off the bench, with three 3-pointers, two rebounds and an assist, to lift Banghart to her 100th career win at UNC.

North Carolina (4–1) faces Villanova in a 4 p.m. semifinal (FloSports) after the Wildcats beat Texas A&M 65–47 in the last first-round games. UNC has won both previous meetings

“That is something we don’t take lightly,” fifth-year wing Alyssa Ustby said of Banghart’s milestone. “It is hard to get wins in any conference, let alone the ACC, which is one of the best in the country and day in, day out coach Banghart is constantly working to make all of us individually better and the group.

“This coach does not stop, and that’s all you want as an athlete because we’re showing up too,” Ustby said. “She needs us there every single time to help us get better. She’s the motor behind this entire program.”

Utsby added 12 points and 11 rebounds for her first double-double of the season. She shot 3-6 from the field and converted a three-pointer during the first quarter of play.

“I’m just so grateful that she picked me up a few years to play for her,” Utsby said of Banghart. “The rest is history.”

The 17-year-old Grant (above) exploded for a big night, shooting 50% in 27 minutes. Her highest previous scoring output on the season was seven points against UConn and North Carolina A&T.

“It’s definitely exciting,” Grant said. “You get to go out, compete with this team and then come out with a W. I think that my output is a testament to how hard as a group that we’ve worked. After the UConn game, kicking the ball in and out. Me making shots is great, but it came from people finding me which is really, really important. I’m very, very grateful for this opportunity.”

Ustby chimed in on Grant’s response.

“Lanie Grant is very humble,” Utsby said “She is a dog on the court and she’s somebody everyone has to watch out for. That girl can hoop.”

Coach Banghart was without senior forward Maria Gakdeng so the team counted on others without her presencer.

“We always hope she’s gonna play,” Banghart said. “So we’ll know more when our medical team continues to put her in the best position to be successful. Her mom is here, her family is here, and we’re better when Maria is on the floor. But she wasn’t on the floor today, so we’ll keep getting her better and hope she can help us soon.”

Despite Gakdeng’s absence, the Tar Heels held the rebounding advantage 37–32. North Carolina is averaging 41.3 rebounds.

North Carolina has won four of its first five games of the season. However, the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament serves the challenge of playing three games in three days.

“Three games in three days, anybody knows that that’s a grind,” Utsby said. “One thing that’s exciting for me as a fifth-year senior with this team is this team is committed to playing their butts off, every 40-minute game. That’s something to be really excited about and ready for the challenge.”

Grant said that the team has prepared to play three successive days

“Andrew [Graber] and Jodi [Schneider], our staff, have been pushing us in practices and it has been a standard — knowing that we have three games in three days,” Grant said. “Coach kind of touched on it, we have a very, very deep bench or our ‘group’ as she said is very, very deep so I think that we’re going to be able to lean on a lot of different people which is going to be exciting to see.”

The Tar Heels got 29 points off the bench, with junior guard Trayanna Crisp scoring 12 points behind Grant. Twenty-four of UNC’s 63 points came inside, while 17 came off turnovers. Banghart’s squad stole the basketball nine times.

No. 16 UNC 63, Ball State 52

Battle 4 Atlantis

Imperial Arena | Nassau, Bahamas
Saturday’s first-round results
Baylor 101, Southern Miss 55
Indiana 72, Columbia 62
No. 16 North Carolina 63, Ball State 52
Villanova 65, Texas A&M 47
Sunday’s results
Semifinals
Indiana 73, Baylor 65
No. 16 North Carolina 53, Villanova 36
Consolation bracket
Columbia 85, Southern Miss 66
Ball State 75, Texas A&M 62
Sunday’s results
Championship: No. 16 North Carolina 69, Indiana 39
Third-place game: Baylor 73, Villanova 62
Fifth-place game: Columbia 69, Ball State 62
Seventh-place game: Texas A&M 79, Southern Miss 57

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. 16 Louisville	9–3, 0–1 ACC
17	Wednesday	W, 84–34	vs. UNCW	10–3
21	Sunday	Noon	vs. Charleston Southern	ACCN Extra
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. 20 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