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North Carolina, which fell one spot to No. 19 in the AP Top 25 women’s basketball poll, may have done enough to earn a top 4 seed in the NCAA tournament, meaning games at Carmichael Arena in the first two rounds. With all of the major conference tournaments complete, ESPN projects the Tar Heels (21–10) as a No. 4 seed.
GREENSBORO — Days after No. 18 North Carolina finished off a regular-season sweep of Duke, the two will go at it again. Carolina junior Alyssa Ustby wouldn’t want it any other way, as the rivals will face off at 6 p.m. Friday in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum.
GREENSBORO — Carolina shot itself into a third battle with Duke behind one of the Tar Heels’ best perimeter shooting halves of the season. Related: It’s good for No. 18 UNC to have the inside-outside combination of Eva Hodgson and Alyssa Ustby back.
When the No. 18 Carolina women play Thursday in the second round of the ACC Tournament, it will only be the third game this season with their top 11 players. That made the journey for Coach Courtney Banghart’s fourth Tar Heels team challenging. But, along the way, it developed depth that has made UNC one of the most versatile teams heading into the event at the Greensboro Coliseum.
DURHAM — You couldn’t blame Duke’s players if they did a few double-takes Sunday during their senior-day women’s basketball game against North Carolina. The overwhelming majority of the sellout crowd of 9,314 fans in Cameron Indoor Stadium wore Duke blue, but the folks in Carolina blue were loud and all but nullified the Blue Devils’ home-court advantage. The 45–41 win completed UNC’s second consecutive regular-season sweep of its rivals.
North Carolina moved up four spots to No. 18 in the AP Top 25 women’s basketball poll heading into this week’s ACC tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum. The Tar Heels (20–9) rebounded from a heartbreaking 61–59 senior night loss Thursday against No. 9 Virginia Tech by ruining the senior day for Duke (24–5) on Sunday 45–41.
After sweeping No. 11 Duke in the regular season, No. 22 North Carolina is a win away from taking on the Blue Devils at the ACC tournament in Greensboro for their third meeting this season. The No. 7-seed Tar Heels (20–9, 11–7 ACC) will need to win a second-round game to make that happen. They play at the Greensboro Coliseum at 6 p.m. Thursday against the winner of Wednesday’s 3:30 first-round game between No. 15-seed Pittsburgh (10–29, 3–15) and No. 10 Clemson (16–14, 7–11).
DURHAM — In a torrid defensive battle, No. 22 North Carolina broke through with the game on the line in the fourth quarter and won the game at the line. The Tar Heels rode a 14–2 fourth-quarter run to their second consecutive regular-season sweep of Duke, making all nine free-throw attempts in the final period.
CHAPEL HILL — All of North Carolina’s starters are back, and the No. 22 Tar Heels showed Thursday that they’re loaded for a big late-season run. But that nearly full roster ran up against one of the hottest teams in the country. With junior wing Alyssa Ustby and guard Eva Hodgson back, UNC battled No. 9 Virginia Tech well all night before losing a heartbreaker, 61–59, as the Hokies won their seventh game in a row and ninth in the last 10 games.
UNC coach Courtney Banghart said after the No. 22 Tar Heels’ win Sunday over Wake Forest that Alyssa Ustby was “day to day or even minute to minute maybe,” suggesting that the junior wing was nearing a return. Ustby posted a powerful suggestion on Instagram on Monday night — a photo of her in uniform and the words “tell a friend to tell a friend …” Officially, she still is listed as day-to-day, but her post seems to indicate that she will play this week.
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