By R.L. Bynum

Maria Gakdeng was nearly unstoppable when she got the ball inside Thursday night, and No. 9 North Carolina took advantage of that.

The senior center produced her 10th career double-double and third this season with 21 points and 14 rebounds as the Tar Heels moved to 8–0 on the road for the third time in program history with a 68–58 victory over Syracuse at the JMA Dome in Syracuse.

“It’s hard to win games in this league, and these guys found a way again. A lot to be said for that,” said UNC coach Courtney Banghart after her team earned 24 regular-season wins for the 12th time in program history with its sixth consecutive victory.

It was Carolina’s first win at Syracuse since an 81–68 triumph on Nov. 19, 2000, and the first in ACC play. UNC is off to its best start in road games since the 2005–06 team won all seven road games. It’s 7–0 in ACC road games for the fourth time in program history, the best start since the 2007–08 team won all seven road league games.

Carolina (24–4, 12–3 ACC), which never trailed, won’t get many style points after committing 20 turnovers (the second-most this season) and going 13 of 28 on layup attempts, but the win puts the Tar Heels in a good position to earn a double-bye in the ACC tournament.

Alyssa Ustby didn’t make the trip as she recovers from a left knee injury suffered early in the N.C. State win.

“She’ll be back, which is great news,” Banghart said. “We don’t know when. Obviously, our goals are to be really good in the postseason. I think it probably helps to get a little deeper right now. But we’re going to make sure, as we always do, that she’s not just playing for us. She’s got a pro career we’ve got to be mindful of too. You will see her in uniform again.”

The good news is that the injury isn’t as serious as once feared and she is considered “week to week,” but her teammates came together for a big victory without her.

None more than Gakdeng, who scored 13 consecutive UNC points during one stretch to tie her season-high point total, missing her career-high by one.

“She’s a problem for a couple reasons, one of which is she’s got really good touch around the rim,” Banghart said. “She’s got great extension, so she’s hard to contest. Two is, she’s got incredible timing; she understands things a step ahead. She’s not going to post up too early. She’s not going to post up to the wrong passer.”

Among the many facets of Ustby’s game that UNC misses is her rebounding, but the Tar Heels dominated under the boards 40–26 and rebounded 51.5% of their misses.

“Knowing that I have to make up for the rebounding we lose, making sure that I’m running the floor, making sure I’m getting out rebounding, going to the glass hard,” Gakdeng said.

Reniya Kelly’s streak of six consecutive double-figure scoring games ended as she scored six points and had career-highs of six assists and five turnovers. Lexi Donarski had nine points but was 3 of 12 from the floor.

“To find a way when [Kelly is] not dominant, and when Lexi’s not shooting great and we were a little bit sloppy with the ball? This team’s got a lot of a lot of weapons, and they found a way,” Banghart said.

Tray Crisp, in her second game back after missing nine games with a lower-body injury, poured in 12 points and two 3-pointers.

“I liked all of her looks. I liked her 3s. I liked her attack at the basket,” Banghart said of Crisp, who was on a minutes restriction against N.C. State. “I liked her passes. She just couldn’t necessarily be in rhythm. Tray is someone we trust. Credit to her that she stayed in shape and was ready to help us as we needed her.”

Redshirt freshman Ciera Toomey got her first college start with Ustby out, finishing with three points in 12 minutes.

“We told Ciera just do what Ciera does. Don’t worry about what Alyssa does,” Banghart said. “With the changing lineup, and you can put someone [in] like Tray, and you have multiple facilitators. We extended the floor a little bit better. We can run a little bit different stuff, just because they’re different skill sets, which I think is healthy. And when Alyssa is back, we should be better.”

Syracuse (10–16, 4–11) stayed in the game by scoring nine 3-pointers, its second-highest total of the season. Australian guard Georgia Woolley led the team with 17 points and four 3-pointers.

Banghart said that UNC’s turnovers were a bigger issue than being slow on perimeter closeouts.

“I think we were almost getting a bit greedy with it,” Banghart said. “The turnovers — I feel like these guys kind of just kind of tightened up a little bit needlessly. Good for them to feel that and to recognize that; they’re best when we’re aggressive. I thought we were all tentative tonight, quite honestly.”

Indya Nivar had 11 points and four rebounds and Grace Townsend collected four assists and four rebounds.

Carolina led 15–12 after one quarter on the strength of 3-pointers by Donarski, Nivar and Crisp, the latter coming with six seconds left. Crisp’s second 3-pointer gave UNC a six-point lead with 6:30 left in the first half.

Gakdeng scored UNC’s last 11 first-half points, including a three-point play, to give the Tar Heel a 35–25 halftime lead after Syracuse had cut the lead to two points before that 11–3 half-ending run. Woolley scored 11 of Syracuse’s 13 second-quarter points, firing in three 3-pointers.

Toomey’s 3-pointer with 8:21 left in the third quarter pushed the lead to 15 and stopped a stretch of 13 consecutive UNC points from Gakdeng.

Two Olivia Schmitt 3-pointers and a 3 from Sophie Burrows cut UNC’s lead to five with 3:05 left in the third quarter. Nivar then scored four straight points to power a 7–2 run to end the third quarter as UNC took a 55–45 lead on a Donarski 3-pointer with three seconds left.

A 6–0 Syracuse run cut UNC’s lead to six with 5:10 left, but buckets by Nivar and Crisp and a Donarski 3-pointer in a 7–0 run shoved the lead back to 13. Two Burrows layups, the second with 37 seconds left, cut Syracuse’s deficit to eight but the Orange got no closer.

NOTES — UNC plays the second of three consecutive road games at 2 p.m. Sunday (ESPN) at Louisville (19–7, 12–3), which won 68–62 at No. 11 Duke on Thursday night and is in a tie for third place in the ACC with the Tar Heels. … UNC cut Syracuse’s lead in the series to 9–8 with its second win in seven meetings in Syracuse. … UNC and No. 1 Notre Dame are the only women’s teams that are unbeaten on the road. … UNC’s season-high for turnovers was 25 in its 53–46 overtime home victory over Duke on Jan. 9. … Banghart’s teams are 78–3 when opponents score fewer than 60 points. … Syracuse’s season 3-pointers high was 12 in a 93–87 win Feb. 6 at Virginia Tech. The Orange’s 57.1% shooting from outside the arc was second only to the 57.1% against the Hokies. … UNC only went to the free-throw line five times, but made every attempt, marking the best shooting at the line all season. The five attempts were the second-fewest this season behind the 69–67 Feb. 2 win at Stanford when the Tar Heels went 2 for 4. … Carolina committed a season-low eight fouls. The previous low was nine in the 76–66 Jan. 5 home loss to Notre Dame. … UNC has four consecutive seasons with a six-game ACC win streak for the first time since 2004–05 through 2007–08.

No. 9 UNC 68, Syracuse 58

Team	League	Overall	NET*
No. 16 Louisville	2–0	11–3	14
N.C. State	2–0	8–4	31
Syracuse	1–0	10–1	40
Stanford	1–0	9–2	32
No. 20 Notre Dame	1–0	8–2	19
Virginia	1–0	8–3	29
Duke	1–0	5–6	38
Wake Forest	1–1	10–3	127
Virginia Tech	1–1	9–3	63
Clemson	1–1	8–4	49
Miami	1–1	7–4	48
No. 18 North Carolina	0–1	10–3	15
California	0–1	8–4	70
Pittsburgh	0–1	7–6	250
SMU	0–1	5–6	154
Boston College	0–1	4–9	207
Florida State	0–2	4–9	112
Georgia Tech	0–2	4–9	125

* — Through Wednesday games
Wednesday’s games
No. 18 North Carolina 84, UNCW 34
Clemson 78, Charleston Southern 52
No. 16 Louisville 76, Eastern Kentucky 51
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
Mercyhurst at Syracuse, 10:30 a.m, ACCN Extra
Northeastern at Boston College, noon, ACCN Extra
SMU at Sam Houston, 6 p.m., ESPN+
No. 22 Washington at Stanford, 10 p.m., ACCN Extra
Saturday’s games
No. 16 Louisville at No. 17 Tennessee, 11 a.m., Fox
Winthrop at Virginia, noon, ACCN Extra
South Carolina State at Florida State, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
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

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