By R.L. Bynum
CHAPEL HILL — If there is a byword as North Carolina enters a women’s basketball season flush with talent and high expectations, it’s flexibility.
Coach Courtney Banghart’s eighth Tar Heel team has plenty of lead guards after depending heavily last season on Elena Aarnisalo, who has returned to UCLA. Banghart said the shift reflects both a broader evolution in the sport and a specific need she identified when Aarnisalo carried much of the offensive burden down the stretch a year ago.
She said the days of designating players as point guards, wings, small forwards and centers are over for most programs.
“The game has really become much faster, much quicker and more positionless,” Banghart said during a Thursday press conference at Carmichael Arena. “We have a lot more decision-making guards than we’ve had in the past, so that means they can handle the ball, they can make decisions in live time about pace of play and about actions.”
With the now-healthy Reniya Kelly missing much of the later part of last season, Banghart leaned on Aarnisalo, and opponents knew it.
“If you could take her away from dictating offense and tempo, it was harder for us to score, so we felt like we needed to address that. We knew we needed to address it in our recruiting,” Banghart said.
Five-star freshman point guard Kate Harpring, Virginia transfer Gabby White, Syracuse transfer Sophie Burrows and Stanford transfer Chloe Clardy join a backcourt that includes Kelly and junior Jordan Zubich.
Banghart singled out Clardy as a polished addition who fills a specific need for size and physicality on the perimeter.
“She has a very clear basketball IQ. She’s a shot-maker. She was impactful on the defensive end,” Banghart said. “She’s a bigger guard. We needed to get sturdier and bigger in terms of our physicality, and I think she brings a lot of that.”
Subscribe to read Tar Heel Tribune ad-free
Subscribe for a cleaner, smoother reading experience without the flashing banners, slow-loading elements, or those especially annoying pop‑up ads that interrupt the flow of the story. You’ll also get the first version of each story emailed to you. The only ads you’ll see are static, non-intrusive ads for UNC‑related books, and there are none currently on the site.
Clardy balances Harpring’s youth with three seasons of ACC experience.
“Every coach in the country would rather have the older team, and we finally have older guys,” said Banghart, who has six seniors: Ciera Toomey, Laila Hull, Oklahoma State transfer Achol Akot, Sydney Barker, Kelly and Burrow.
Coming off back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances, there is a confident vibe heading into the season, tempered by an understanding of the work still ahead. Banghart pointed to the program’s standing as one of 10 Division I programs that have been to three of the last five Sweet 16s.
“You’re in that top category of teams that keep cracking at it,” Banghart said. “That’s the good news. The bad news is we’re not one of the teams that have been to the Elite Eight or the Final Four in my tenure. I get excited that we built the foundation the right way, that we’re able to attract the talent that we’ve attracted, both in the portal and in our freshman recruiting — people that we think can help us get to that next step.”
White’s return to Chapel Hill carries significance. A Chapel Hill native, she adds an athletic dimension to Banghart’s roster that the coach said few teams can match, and Banghart pointed to her development since high school as evidence the fit is finally right.
“She’s exactly what we needed. She’s got incredible physicality and athleticism. I don’t know who’s more athletic, her or Indya Nivar,” Banghart said of White, the daughter of Associate Head Coach Joanne Aluka-White. “I think her seeing Indya’s maturation as a player, and how her career ended up, attracted her back here.”
In the frontcourt, there are many more options and combinations at Banghart’s disposal. She has interchangeable parts that will allow UNC, for the most part, to switch one through five on defense.
There’s plenty of height and length, with 6–4 freshman Noelle Bofia, who practiced with the team during the spring semester last season, adding flexibility to the center options that include 6–5 Blanca Thomas and 6–4 Toomey.
Banghart said the extra runway Bofia received by enrolling early made a tangible difference in her readiness for physical post play against older, stronger teammates.
“It does give us more flexibility, the fact that we have more talent, because now you can mix your lineups up,” Banghart said. “When she catches in the low post, she’s trying to score on Blanca and Ciera Toomey, who understand physicality and understand how to play in a low post. We really spent, I would say, a good five months almost only on that. And then once she got that taken care of, we’ve been able to build her game within our system.”
Beyond the additions, Banghart said the identity of this season’s group revealed itself almost immediately once they began to practice together, distinguished less by several standout personalities and more by a shared refusal to accept losing, even in scrimmages.
“This team is a whole lot of dog, and that’s going to help as they try to get to the next step as a program,” Banghart said. “Chloe came in the very first day, and we had a little live session, and her team lost, and she was like, ‘Coach, that’s never happening again.’ I don’t think it has. From the first day, you could tell this team is not here just to play around.”
With a roster this deep and this experienced, Banghart said the pieces are in place for North Carolina to finally push past the round that has eluded the program during her tenure, even as she cautioned that potential alone won’t be enough once the season begins in earnest.
| Year | No. | Players | Pos. | Height | |
| Freshman | 11 | Kate Harpring | PG | 5–10 | |
| Freshman | 52 | Noelle Bofia | F | 6–4 | |
| Sophomore | 3 | Gabby White — W | G | 5–10 | |
| Sophomore | 7 | Nyla Brooks | W | 6–1 | |
| Sophomore | 26 | Taissa Queiroz | G | 6–1 | |
| Junior | 34 | Blanca Thomas | C | 6–5 | |
| Junior | 1 | Jordan Zubich | G | 5–11 | |
| RS junior | 21 | Ciera Toomey | F | 6–4 | |
| RS junior | 4 | Laila Hull | W | 6–1 | |
| Senior | 5 | Sophie Burrows — X | G | 6–2 | |
| Senior | 8 | Achol Akot — Y | F | 6–1 | |
| Senior | 10 | Reniya Kelly | G | 5–7 | |
| Senior | 15 | Sydney Barker | G | 5–6 | |
| Graduate | 13 | Chloe Clardy — Z | G | 5–9 |
W — Virginia transfer; X — Syracuse transfer; Y — Oklahoma State transfer; Z — Stanford transfer
Former players who entered transfer portal
| Player | Class next season | Pos. | Hgt | Next school |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elina Aarnisalo | Junior | G | 5–10 | UCLA |
| Lanie Grant | Junior | G | 5–9 | TCU |
| Taliyah Henderson | Sophomore | W | 6–1 | Clemson |
| Liza Astakhova | Sophomore | G | 6–2 | BYU |
UNC schedule
| Date | Day/ month | Time | Opponent/event (rank in final poll) |
|---|---|---|---|
| October | |||
| 18 | Sunday | 1 p.m. | vs. Davidson (exhibition) |
| November | |||
| 2 | Monday | TBA | Oui-Play in Paris vs. No 12 Oklahoma |
| 8 | Sunday | TBA | 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 | TBA | 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 Communications
