By Bob Sutton
The defensive effort for the North Carolina women’s basketball team was fitting all the way through its ACC road opener Sunday afternoon.
The No. 17 Tar Heels were relentless in churning out a 69–60 victory against Miami in Coral Gables, Fla.
Even though UNC (13–2, 1–1 ACC) managed to score only seven fourth-quarter points, it didn’t matter. By then, the tone had been fully established.
“I liked how we were defending,” Coach Courtney Banghart said. “They weren’t getting any look that they wanted in the fourth quarter. So I was using the clock and the time and trusting our defense even more so than our offense.”
Miami (11–2, 1–1) was stuck with a season-low point total. The Hurricanes’ previous low mark came in a 61–56 victory against Oregon State.
“This group really locked into communicating [on defense],” Banghart said. “I could hear them all throughout the game which mattered.”
There was enough offense for the Tar Heels, with Maria Gakdeng cranking out 14 of her 21 points in the first half. Alyssa Ustby had 17 points and 13 rebounds and Indya Nivar added 11 points. Gakdeng, who shot 7 of 11 from the field, pulled in a season-high 12 rebounds.
“Our group as a whole did a really good job at assessing the game in live time and continuing making Miami pay on the inside because they had no answer for Maria,” Ustby said. “Just really good all-around team offense to figure out where we needed to score.”
Gakdeng said she realized she had to be productive.
“Being relentless, always calling for the ball, knowing they were looking for me,” she said. “We practiced that. We make sure we work on post passes.”
The turnover count was most telling. Miami gave it up 15 times compared to Carolina’s season-low four.
That made up for the Tar Heels’ 6-for-29 shooting on 3-point attempts.
“Our guard play was a bit rusty coming out of the break, understandably,” Banghart said of the shooting. “Fortunately, they really took care of the basketball. If you’re not going to shoot well, there’s lots of ways to impact this game. … We didn’t shoot well enough at the perimeter spot, but we did other things well enough.”
Miami closed within 56–45 before Lanie Grant’s 3-pointer for North Carolina’s final field goal of the third quarter.
The contributions from Gakdeng and Ustby stood out the most.
“Each game has its own feel,” Banghart said. “This one will go down that we’ll really credit [Gakdeng and Ustby] for finding a way for us.”
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Carolina built a 39–29 halftime lead. Miami’s nine first-half turnovers boosted the Tar Heels, who held a 17-point edge at one point.
The Hurricanes notched the final seven points of the half, holding North Carolina scoreless for the last three minutes. Banghart said the Tar Heels bolstered their defensive rebounding in the second half.
A potential trouble spot was foul trouble with starters Lexi Donarski with three and Ustby and Reniya Kelly with two each.
“I was worried about the foul trouble,” Banghart said. “Because when they’re not aggressive, we’re not good. I was a little worried about that. … It’s not great when you have so many of your guys that you lean on with a lot of experience in foul trouble. We like our bench. We trust them.”
By game’s end, no North Carolina player had accumulated more than three fouls. The Tar Heels used six players off the bench.
In the first half, Miami’s Haley Cavinder had 12 of her 19 points. Jasmyne Roberts also finished with 19 points for the Hurricanes, who shot 40.4% from the floor.
That was better than North Carolina’s 39.1% mark.
With two 3-pointers, Grant was the lone Tar Heel with more than one long-range basket.
Kelly was back in the starting lineup after missing the Dec. 21 matchup with Norfolk State because of a lower-body injury. She had five points.
NOTES — The Tar Heels won in Miami for the first time since 2015. … The Tar Heels and Hurricanes split two meetings last season, with North Carolina winning at home and Miami claiming an ACC Tournament second-round matchup. … North Carolina takes a three-game winning streak going into a three-game homestand vs. No. 3 Notre Dame (Jan. 5), No. 14 Duke (Jan. 9) and Boston College (Jan. 12).
Bob Sutton is a veteran ACC sports writer who is the former North Carolina Sportswriter of the Year and was the sports editor of the Burlington Times-News for 25 years.
No. 17 UNC 69, Miami 60
| Team | League | Overall | NET* | WAB* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 13 Duke | 16–2 | 21–8 | 10 | 13 |
| No. 12 Louisville | 15–3 | 25–6 | 13 | 10 |
| No. 16 North Carolina | 14–4 | 25–6 | 19 | 14 |
| N.C. State | 13–5 | 20–9 | 23 | 27 |
| Syracuse | 12–6 | 22–7 | 40 | 31 |
| Virginia Tech | 12–6 | 22–8 | 41 | 34 |
| Notre Dame | 12–6 | 20–9 | 24 | 23 |
| Clemson | 11–7 | 20–10 | 44 | 40 |
| Virginia | 11–7 | 19–10 | 36 | 49 |
| California | 9–9 | 18–13 | 53 | 60 |
| Stanford | 8–10 | 19–12 | 42 | 56 |
| Miami | 8–10 | 16–13 | 58 | 65 |
| Georgia Tech | 7–10 | 12–17 | 76 | 109 |
| Florida State | 5–13 | 10–20 | 107 | 138 |
| Wake Forest | 4–14 | 14–16 | 121 | 134 |
| SMU | 2–16 | 9–21 | 220 | 209 |
| Pittsburgh | 1–17 | 8–23 | 262 | 238 |
| Boston College | 1–17 | 5–26 | 247 | 283 |
* — Through Sunday games
Thursday’s results
No. 16 North Carolina 82, Virginia 70
No. 12 Louisville 69, Georgia Tech 50
Notre Dame 72, Syracuse 62
Miami 79, Pittsburgh 58
N.C. State 65, Wake Forest 58
No. 13 Duke 80, Florida State 52
Stanford 87, SMU 57
Clemson 70, California 63
Sunday’s results
No. 16 North Carolina 74, No. 13 Duke 69
Virginia Tech 83, Virginia 82
Georgia Tech 79, Miami 49
N.C. State 93, Pittsburgh 43
Stanford 85, Clemson 50
Syracuse 90, Boston College 65
Notre Dame 65, No. 12 Louisville 62
Florida State 77, Wake Forest 74, OT
California 78, SMU 34
End of regular season
ACC tournament
Gas South Arena
Duluth, Ga.
March 4–8
UNC schedule
| Date | Day/ month | Time | Opponent/event (rank in final poll) |
|---|---|---|---|
| October | Exhibitions | ||
| 18 | Sunday | 1 p.m. | vs. Davidson |
| 24 | Saturday | 1 p.m. | at No. 20 Maryland |
| November | Regular season | ||
| 2 | Monday | 2:30 ET | Oui-Play in Paris vs. No. 12 Oklahoma |
| 8 | Sunday | 5:30 | Ally Tipoff in Charlotte vs. No. 2 South Carolina |
| 11 | Wednesday | TBA | vs. N.C. Central |
| 14 | Saturday | TBA | at Penn in Palestra |
| WBCA Showcase | Orlando | ||
| 19 | Thursday | 6 p.m. | vs. Texas Tech |
| 21 | Saturday | 5 p.m. | vs. No. 24 Alabama |
| ——— | |||
| 24 | Tuesday | TBA | vs. Gardner-Webb |
| 27 | Friday | TBA | vs. Army |
| 29 | Sunday | TBA | vs. Brown |
| December | |||
| 2 | Wednesday | 7:15, ESPN2 | ACC/SEC Women’s Challenge vs. No. 8 LSU |
| 6 | Sunday | TBA | vs. Elon |
| 9 | Wednesday | 11 a.m. | vs. Winthrop |
| 13 | Sunday | TBA | vs. N.C. State |
| 17 | Thursday | TBA | vs. Georgia Tech |
| 21 | Monday | TBA | vs. Norfolk State |
| 28 | Monday | TBA | vs. UNCW |
| 31 | Thursday | TBA | at Syracuse |
| January | |||
| 3 | Sunday | TBA | at Clemson |
| 7 | Thursday | TBA | vs. Wake Forest |
| 10 | Sunday | TBA | at No. 11 Louisville |
| 17 | Sunday | TBA | vs. Boston College |
| 21 | Thursday | TBA | at California |
| 24 | Sunday | TBA | at Stanford |
| 28 | Thursday | TBA | vs. No. 9 Notre Dame |
| 31 | Sunday | TBA | vs. No. 5 Duke |
| February | |||
| 4 | Thursday | TBA | at Miami |
| 7 | Sunday | TBA | vs. Virginia Tech |
| 14 | Sunday | TBA | at SMU |
| 18 | Thursday | TBA | at Pittsburgh |
| 21 | Sunday | TBA | vs. Florida State |
| 25 | Thursday | TBA | vs. No. 19 Virginia |
| 28 | Sunday | TBA | at No. 5 Duke |
| March | |||
| 3–7 | Wed.-Sun. | ACC tournament | Spectrum Center, Charlotte |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
