By R.L. Bynum
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Scoring droughts that had been too common all season and the inability to hit the defensive boards down the stretch meant a sudden end to North Carolina’s season and a frustrating, painful finish to senior center Maria Gakdeng’s college career.
After UNC led by 11 points early, No. 2-seed Duke took control and eased to a 47–38 victory over the No. 3-seed Tar Heels in the Birmingham Regional 2 semifinals Friday at Legacy Arena.
“We really didn’t shoot the ball well enough,” UNC coach Courtney Banghart said after her team’s season-low offensive output. “We didn’t play through their physicality enough, we didn’t attack outside legs well enough, we didn’t play off two well enough.”
No. 12-ranked Carolina (29–8) went more than 12 first-half minutes and nearly nine second-half minutes without a field goal and struggled to stay in the game after Gakdeng had to be helped off the court in the first half.
It was a disheartening way to go out for Gakdeng — who painfully sprained her left ankle in the first half — and fifth-year players Alyssa Ustby and Lexi Donarski, who were having trouble dealing with the end of their college careers.
“We were talking a couple of minutes ago, and it never was a thought that our season was going to be over today,” said Donarski, who scored seven points on 3 of 7 shooting. “So just the shock of that and knowing that we’re not showing up for practice [Saturday] definitely will take some time to process.”
Alyssa Ustby’s layup with two seconds left capped her fabulous career with a team-high nine points to go along with 10 rebounds, just missing her 50th double-double.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to play at North Carolina,” Ustby said, “play for Coach Banghart for five years, seeing her every single day nearly all year long, I’m just really grateful for the experience and I wish everybody could have such a fulfilling experience that I had.”
Ustby is one of only three players in the last 25 seasons with at least 1,200 rebounds (1,260) and at least 400 assists (401), along with UConn’s Maya Moore and Maryland’s Alyssa Thomas.
With Ustby forced to play at the five spot for the third straight game because of Gakdeng’s injury, she played all 40 minutes.
“She is a rim protector, she is an elite rebounder, and [late in the shot clock], you can get it into her,” Banghart said of Gakdeng. “We didn’t have any of that, and Duke forces you into late clock. I tried to act like it was next man up, but when you lose Maria late in the game, you’re up nine, that’s a big loss.”
UNC shot 18.2% (2 of 11) in the fourth quarter as No. 7-ranked Duke (29–7) pulled down eight of its 15 offensive rebounds to prevent the Tar Heels from rallying.
“I had sprained it before against Louisville, and I kind of strained it again; it was really painful,” Gakdeng said. “So I just [had to] take a break, regroup, come back out.”
While Gakdeng tried to stay loose on a stationary bike the last 8:11 of the first half, UNC went from leading by three to being outscored 19–7 for the rest of the first half without her, and never led again.
Gakdeng played just under 17 minutes, her fewest since mid-December, contributing two points and seven rebounds, and was scoreless in eight second-half minutes but was a team-high +9.
“I’ve had a great college career, so I’m not really thinking about the fact that it ends like this,” Gakdeng said. “I’m not going to let this dictate how I felt about how great of a year I had.”
Carolina didn’t have an answer for reserve Oluchi Okananwa, who produced her third double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds — both game-highs — after collecting 22 points and 10 rebounds against N.C. State in the ACC tournament championship game.
“Oluchi continues to be an exact player on both ends for us,” Duke coach Kara Lawson said. “I thought her two threes in the first half were big to give us confidence and, obviously, she carried the day.”
UNC had seen this torrid Duke defense before but couldn’t figure out how to avoid offensive struggles and long scoring droughts.
“Duke is pretty disciplined,” Ustby said. “They are there on their rotations; they know to double. They are pretty sound defensively, so that makes us take tougher shots and alters our looks we are used to getting.”
The Blue Devils missed their first nine shots, and UNC jumped ahead with the game’s first 11 points, capped by a Donarski jumper and an Ustby drive.
“We all understood we’ve been here before, and with our connectivity, we are able to climb out of any deficit if we focus on what we need to do: A, rebounding, our defensive abilities, cracking down on the details more,” Okanawa said. “So, that was our focus and keep doing us, keep doing what we do and we’re going to chip away.”
Duke finally broke through on a Jordan Wood free throw with four minutes left. Her jumper 33 seconds later propelled the Blue Devils went on a 7–0 run to cut the lead to four. Carolina led 13–9 after, marking the fifth time in three NCAA tournament games that it’s held an opponent to single-digit points in a quarter.
A Duke bucket at the end of the first quarter started a 14–0 run to take an eight-point lead on a Vanessa DeJesus drive with 2:53 left in the first half, with Ustby going to the five spot for much of the run.
An Indya Nivar layup 12 seconds later, UNC’s first field goal in more than 12 minutes, and a Donarski 3-pointer cut the deficit to three. But Okananwa scored two 3-pointers in an 8–0 run to shove Duke’s lead to 10. Duke led 28–20 at halftime after Nivar’s layup with four seconds left.
Nivar’s jumper and transition layup and a Kelly 3-pointer started a 12–4 UNC run to slice Duke’s lead to two on a Lanie Grant drive with two minutes left in the third quarter. But an Ashton Jackson 3-pointer gave Duke a 37–32 lead after three quarters.
Duke expanded the lead to 12 with the first seven points of the final quarter, capped by another Jackson 3-pointer with 5:40 left, and UNC didn’t cut the lead to single digits until Usby’s late layup made it a nine-point game.
NOTES — Duke will play No. 1-seed South Carolina in Sunday’s 1 p.m. ET regional final. The Gamecocks beat Maryland 71–67 in Friday’s second semifinal. … The previous low points output by UNC was 53 four times, including both regular-season games against Duke. … UNC’s 15 turnovers were the fewest in the three games against Duke after committing 25 in the Jan. 9 win in Chapel Hill and nine in the Feb. 27 loss at Duke. … UNC’s seven second-quarter points marked the first single-digit scoring output in a quarter since scoring five in the first quarter against N.C. State in the ACC tournament semifinals. … Carolina was limited to three 3-pointers for the second consecutive game (3 of 11). … Duke won the season series 2–1, but UNC leads the all-time series 56–55. … Carolina hasn’t made a regional final since, as a No. 4 seed, beating No.-1 seed South Carolina 65–58 in Sweet 16 at the Stanford Regional. … Duke is in the Elite Eight for the second time in three years after losing to UConn 54–45 in the 2024 Portland Regional final.
No. 2 Duke 47, No. 3 UNC 38
| 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 | 8 p.m. | vs. UNCW | ACCN |
| 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 |
Photo via @MarchMadnessWBB
tarheeltribune.com 