By R.L. Bynum

CHAPEL HILL — With the way that Lexi Donarski is shooting of late, Wake Forest had no shot at pulling an upset.

In the best shooting run of her career, the fifth-year guard scored five 3-pointers for the third consecutive game, pouring in 17 points, as No. 13 North Carolina pulled away from a four-point halftime lead for a 76–51 victory Thursday at Carmichael Arena.

At 18–3 with five straight wins, UNC (6–2 ACC) is off to its best 21-game start under Coach Courtney Banghart and the program’s best since the 2012–13 team began 19–2.

“I’ve really just enjoyed the journey,” said Banghart, who is in her sixth season. “We’ve still got some holes that we’ve got to shore up, but they’re better than they were a month ago, and that’s what matters.”

After Donarski’s 15th career game with at least five 3s and fourth this season, she couldn’t remember if she’s had a better shooting run than the last three games. Banghart couldn’t remember coaching a player with that sort of stretch.

“It’s been feeling really good,” said Donarski, who had a team-high 15.2 game score. “We take what they give us, and in the last couple of games, people have really been attacking the paint, going off of two feet when the defense collapses, and finding open shooters.”

Donarski has been getting more open shots in recent games and making opponents pay with a quicker release that her coaches have hounded her about.

“Every drill that we do, the coaches are on me to get it off a little bit quicker, no matter what. No matter how quick I get it off. If I think it’s quick, it’s not quick enough,” Donarski said. “Just continuing trying to get it just that much quicker so I can get it off against a team that would be able to contest it, but I’m able to get it off first.”

Donarski’s defense has been solid all season, but the shooting hasn’t been as consistent until the last couple of weeks and that has been a big driver of UNC’s win streak.

“I’m thrilled when she makes shots, but there are so many other parts of her game that we need her for,” Banghart said. “She’s incredibly vocal. She very much knows the game plan, and she’s able to share it. She infuses her teammates with confidence. She plays with joy.”

Banghart said that Donarski is much more than a “3 and D” player because of her leadership and how she keeps expanding her game.

“I feel like if as long as she knows what’s happening out there, I feel like everything’s okay,” Banghart said. “She will make sure people defensively are doing what they need to do. She’s doing more off the dribble. She’s changing her pace off the screens better.

Wake Forest (7–11, 0–8) may be winless in the league and mired in a seven-game losing streak, but the Deacs’ penchant for forcing turnovers (6th in the ACC) led to some sloppiness offensively for Carolina. However, UNC rebounded from nine turnovers in the second quarter — when a 16-point lead got chopped to two — with only one when the Heels took control in the third quarter.

“It’s always hard to win an ACC game, and that second quarter will be an opportunity for us to lock in and understand how much we have to stay focused, how we want to play,” said Banghart, who talked about the turnovers at halftime.

“ ‘Let’s remember where we can be good and where we can be better,’ ” was her halftime message. “And these guys are all ears. We were able to show them the pace and urgency.”

UNC had 16 turnovers, the fifth time this season the Tar Heels have had at least 16.

Grace Townsend’s aggressiveness off the bench was important in helping Carolina pull away. She finished with 13 points, three rebounds and two steals.

“I was attacking. I was aggressive but also trying to stay under control and look for my shot. Taking the shot without trying to force it,” Townsend (photo below) said.

When told that she drew six fouls, she reacted with a pause and a “wow.”

“We’ve been talking about recently getting out of transition,” Townsend said, “but also seeing the [outside shooters] when we get in the paint, looking for our shooters outside as the defense will collapse. So, I think that’s just a mix of making sure we’re focused on the game plan, and make sure we’re also looking for our teammates as well.”

Banghart said Townsend, who has come off the bench in all but three games, has always been there to give the team what it needs.

“Her ability to be aggressive and to put pressure on the defense is what we need,” Banghart said. “At times, it might feel like we’re asking her to be selfish, which we’re not. I think she’s adjusting to how her aggressiveness really is what this team needs.”

Freshman guard Lanie Grant scored 10 of her 13 points in the second half. Coming off a seven-steal game in Sunday’s 75–58 win at Pittsburgh, Indya Nivar got a team-high four steals.

Wake Forest jumped out to a 5–2 lead when UNC went scoreless for more than 4½ minutes. Donarski scored three 3-pointers in a 20–1 UNC run to end the first quarter to take a 22–6 lead.

The Deacons went without a field goal for over six minutes before Alyssa Andrews’ 3-pointer 1:17 into the second quarter. That was the first of three Wake Forest 3s during a 17–2 run to trim its deficit lead to two, taking advantage of eight of UNC’s nine turnovers in the quarter.

UNC only scored two field goals in the quarter, with Maria Gakdeng’s inside bucket at the buzzer giving the Heels a 32–28 halftime lead.

Donarski’s fifth 3-pointer came in a 7–0 run to shove the UNC lead to 13 on an Alyssa Ustby transition layup with 4:47 left in the third quarter. A Townsend layup gave UNC a 50–38 lead after three quarters.

A 14–2 UNC run — with 3s from Townsend, Donarski and Grant — pushed the lead to 20 with 3:54 left.

Rylie Theuerkauf scored 15 of her career-high 19 points in the second half to lead the Deacons.

NOTES — After three consecutive games against teams in the bottom of the league, the competition gets tougher at noon Sunday when Florida State visits Carmichael on Alumni Day. The Seminoles (15–4, 5–2), with a NET ranking of 26th, had Thursday off after rolling to an 88–66 victory Sunday over Miami for their second consecutive victory. … UNC’s NET ranking fell two spots after the win to 14, while the Deacs’ NET ranking went up two to 101. … In conference games, Donarski leads the ACC in 3-pointers with 25 and is second in 3-point percentage at 53.2%. … In league games, Nivar is third in the ACC in steals (2.9 per game). …. In ACC games, Ustby is third in the league in rebounding at 10.4 per game. … Junior transfer guard Tray Crisp missed her fourth consecutive game with a lower-body injury. Banghart said she was close, noting that she must be feeling good considering how she was dancing on the sideline. … Wake Forest only had nine players in uniform. … This is the third consecutive season that UNC has won five consecutive ACC games. … Wake Forest hasn’t won a game since beating UNCG 54–50 on Dec. 20. … UNC leads the series 69–18 (the most wins against any opponent), including 34–4 in Chapel Hill, with four wins in a row at home. Wake Forest hasn’t won at Carmichael since 2017.

No. 13 UNC 76, Wake Forest 51

Team	League	Overall	NET*
No. 16 Louisville	2–0	12–3	14
N.C. State	2–0	8–4	28
Syracuse	1–0	11–1	41
Stanford	1–0	10–2	33
No. 20 Notre Dame	1–0	8–2	19
Virginia	1–0	9–3	30
Duke	1–0	5–6	32
Wake Forest	1–1	10–3	122
Virginia Tech	1–1	9–3	53
Clemson	1–1	8–4	47
Miami	1–1	7–4	48
No. 18 North Carolina	0–1	10–3	16
California	0–1	8–4	69
Pittsburgh	0–1	7–6	2270
SMU	0–1	6–6	155
Boston College	0–1	4–10	207
Florida State	0–2	5–9	127
Georgia Tech	0–2	4–9	128

* — Through Thursday games
Thursday’s results
Virginia Tech 79, Florida State 54
Miami 64, Wake Forest 61
Pittsburgh 98, Saint Francis 46
N.C. State 87, Georgia Tech 58
Duke 97, South Dakota State 54
Friday’s games
Syracuse 106, Mercyhurst 40
Northeastern 73, Boston College 67
SMU 73, Sam Houston 69
Stanford 67, No. 22 Washington 62
Saturday’s games
No. 16 Louisville 89, No. 17 Tennessee 65
Virginia 88, Winthrop 53
Florida State 77, South Carolina State 36
Duke at Belmont, 3 p.m., ESPN+
Sunday’s games
Charleston Southern at No. 18 North Carolina, noon, ACC Network
Radford at Virginia Tech, noon, ACCN Extra
Kennesaw State at Miami, noon, ACCN Extra
N.C. State at Davidson, noon, CBS Sports Network
Pittsburgh at Duquesne, 1 p.m., ESPN+
North Florida at Clemson, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
Bellarmine at No. 20 Notre Dame, 5 p.m., ACCN Extra
Southern at SMU, 5 p.m., ACCN Extra
Oregon vs. Stanford in San Francisco, 6 p.m., ESPN
No. 19 USC vs. California in San Francisco, 8:30, ESPN
Monday’s game
Gardner-Webb at Wake Forest, 1 p.m., ACCN Extra

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