By R.L. Bynum

DURHAM — No matter how many players are out, No. 8 North Carolina just keeps putting up a fight, regardless of the opponent.

Against No. 16 Duke, freshman Lanie Grant — in her first college start — did her best to make up for playing without stars Reniya Kelly and Alyssa Ustby as UNC led by one at halftime. But the Blue Devils had too much firepower at the end, pulling away for a 68–53 victory Thursday at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

The depleted Tar Heels (25–5, 13–4 ACC) seemed to run out of gas in the third quarter when Duke (22–7, 13–4) scored the final 11 points of that quarter.

“I think the fatigue sort of set in halfway through,” UNC coach Courtney Banghart said. “At halftime, I felt like they were locked in. Some mental-energy mistakes, some lack of quickness and separation, the things that we know we need. It was a big push for a lot of young guys.”

Senior Reigan Richardson scored 16 of her game-high 23 points in the second half as Duke ended a seven-game win streak for UNC, which became the final women’s team in the country to lose a road game.

Banghart said that Ustby (left knee) and Kelly (undisclosed injury) will both return. She called Kelly “minute-to-minute” but wanted both to be ready when postseason play starts.

“These are not kids that are rolling over and saying, ‘Coach, I don’t want to play,’ ” Banghart said of Ustby and Kelly, who watched from the bench. “But they do see the big picture.”

Banghart said that the testing metrics from the sports science program showed that their explosiveness and balance were not the same as before, meaning that fatigue has set in.

“That doesn’t put them in the best position to be successful; it puts them in an injury risk,” Banghart said. “If this was an NCAA tournament game, [it] might be a little bit different.”

Grant came out confidently and aggressively, scoring UNC’s first five points. She scored 10 of her team-high 17 and two of her three 3-pointers in the first half.

“With Reniya out, she brings some points as well as Alyssa,” Grant said. “So, I knew that that gap was going to have to be filled somewhere.”

Since UNC decided Wednesday morning to hold Kelly out of the game, Grant said Banghart told her “about 30 times” what she needed to do.

“Just attack, be aggressive, take space,” Grant said. “She poured so much confidence into me. So, it was just like finding the flow within the offense.”

Although Grant wishes the Heels could have won, she was happy to start her first college game in a rival game.

“That’s definitely the loudest gym I’ve ever played in,” Grant said. “Special environment, special rivalry. To be able to do it on that stage, it meant a lot, and it shows the trust that [Banghart] has in me, and I really appreciate that.”

Duke showed why it’s one of the best defensive teams in the country. UNC’s two highest turnover totals this season are 25 in its win in Chapel Hill and 20 on Thursday. Duke scored 16 points off those UNC turnovers while only committing eight turnovers.

“There’s a rhythm to your offense,” Banghart said. “So then when you take someone who sort of runs the tempo of the team, and you have her on the sideline, that rhythm is already a bit disrupted.”

While Duke only won the rebounding battle 33–30, the Blue Devils had a 14–6 advantage on the offensive end.

The challenge got bigger with Maria Gakdeng battling foul trouble again. She fouled out with 1:59 left with eight points, seven rebounds and five turnovers.

Lexi Donarski and Indya Nivar were the only other Tar Heels to score in double figures, each finishing with 10 points.

Grace Townsend started for the first time since the season’s first two games, finishing with four points and four assists but a game-high six turnovers.

Grant’s five early points gave the Tar Heels an early lead, but Duke led for the rest of the opening quarter. Toby Fournier (19 points, 10 rebounds) scored 12 of her 19 points, including eight on a 12–4 run to take an eight-point lead, and the Blue Devils led 24–17 after one quarter, outrebounding Duke 11–5 in the period.

In the second quarter, UNC went to two post players for 4½ minutes when Ciera Toomey came in after missing the game at Louisville with the flu.

In a rare first-half appearance, redshirt freshman Laila Hull hit a 3-pointer during an 11–4 run, giving UNC a one-point lead on Nivar’s transition layup with 2:24 left in the first half. Neither team scored for the rest of the half and UNC led 32–31 at halftime after shooting 58.3% (7 of 12) in the second quarter.

Duke scored the first nine second-half points, all from Richardson, including a 3-pointer, to give the Blue Devils a 39–32 lead. Lexi Donarski’s 3-pointer, followed by Grant’s steal and layup with 3:49 left in the third quarter ended a 9–2 run to tie it at 41.

Richardson outscored UNC in the quarter with 13 points (compared to nine for the Tar Heels) and Duke scored the last 11 points to take a 52–41 lead into the fourth quarter.

A 13–3 Duke run pushed its lead to 18 with 1:59, with UNC’s only getting a Grant 3-pointer.

NOTES — Carolina finishes the regular season with a senior day game at 2 p.m. Sunday against Virginia (15–14, 7–10). The Cavaliers won 63–51 at SMU on Thursday night. … The NCAA revealed the top 16 seeds as they stood Thursday, with Notre Dame 4, N.C. State 8, UNC 10 and Duke 11. … Ustby missed her third consecutive game after coming out early in the N.C. State game. … It was the second time in ACC play that Hull played more than three minutes (11 against Wake Forest). … Duke snapped a two-game losing streak to trim its series deficit to 56–54, and leads in games in Durham 30–17. … UNC fell three spots in the NET rankings to 18th.

No. 16 Duke 68, No. 8 UNC 53

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