Covering Carolina sports beyond just men's basketball and football — with the most complete women's basketball coverage
UNC senior guard Deja Kelly will try out for the United States AmeriCup team in Colorado Springs, Colo., on May 11–15. Kelly will be one of 22 college players vying for 12 spots on the team representing the U.S. at the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup in Leon, Mexico, July 1–9. Two other ACC players will be at the trials — Syracuse’s Dyaisha Fair and Florida State’s Ta’Niya Latson, last season’s league rookie of the year — as well as former Wake Forest guard Jewel Spear, who is in the transfer portal.
Coach Courtney Banghart continues to build an elite women’s basketball program, and Carolina rewarded her Thursday with a five-year contract extension. Banghart, whose deal runs through the 2027–28 season, begins her fifth season in Chapel Hill this fall after her team rose to as high as No. 6 in the country last season, finished 22–11 and made the second round of the NCAA tournament.
With three rested pitchers, North Carolina got its best overall pitching performance in weeks on a night that the Tar Heels needed it to win. UNC collected a season-low three hits, but they were enough as the Tar Heels got a huge 2–1 victory Wednesday at a soldout Clark-LeClair Stadium in Greenville over No. 14 East Carolina to snap a three-game losing streak against the Pirates.
The latest D1 Baseball projection of the NCAA tournament field has Carolina as the No. 3 seed in the Conway, S.C., regional, with No. 8 Coastal Carolina as the host. That projection has No. 13 East Carolina (31–11), which lost to the Tar Heels (29–17) 2–1 in Greenville on Wednesday, as the No. 2 seed in that regional, with Maine as the No. 4 seed.
CHAPEL HILL — With final exams underway at Carolina, the Tar Heels failed in the first of two tests this week against ranked teams as their frustrations in one-run games continued. UNC got stellar defense and some, but not enough, timely hitting, but it wasn’t enough as No. 13 Campbell rallied for a 6–5 victory Tuesday at Boshamer Stadium to end a seven-game skid against the Tar Heels.
The CBS Sports Classic is reportedly headed south for the 10th edition next season. According to Rocco Miller of The Bracketeer website, Carolina will face UCLA on Dec. 16 in Atlanta, the closest city to Chapel Hill in the event’s history. Presumably, the Atlanta Hawks’ downtown arena will host the event.
Even after a possibly season-changing doubleheader sweep Saturday at Virginia Tech, North Carolina isn’t ranked in the latest D1 Baseball Top 25 for the second consecutive week. But the Tar Heels have two excellent chances this week to play themselves back into the poll and improve their NCAA tournament resume.
Carolina got its third women’s basketball transfer commitment when former Stanford combo guard Indya Nivar, a North Carolina native and former McDonald’s All-American, committed to the Tar Heels on Sunday to give them six former five-star recruits on next season’s roster. The 5–10 Nivar, born in Fayetteville but an Apex Friendship High School graduate, will be a sophomore with three seasons of eligibility.
After years of Boston College losing at the hands of North Carolina in the ACC Tournament, the Eagles finally broke through for their first ACC women’s lacrosse title. No. 4-ranked and No. 1-seed BC ended UNC’s streak of seven consecutive ACC championships with an 11–9 victory Sunday in the ACC tournament championship at American Legion Memorial Stadium in Charlotte. The Eagles’ 10th consecutive victory, keyed by a late 5–0 run, avenged a regular-season loss to the Tar Heels.
In a game that started with a lot of talk and cockiness from Virginia Tech, the Tar Heels did their talking with their bats. Tomas Frick, in the middle of a first-inning dust-up, gave Carolina the lead for good with a two-run fourth-inning home run. The Heels beat the Hokies 13–7 to sweep the Saturday doubleheader at English Field in Blacksburg, Va., and win an ACC series after losing the previous two.
Scoreless in the previous 13 innings, Carolina needed a spark to break out of an offensive funk. Enter Mac Horvath. The junior third baseman swung so hard that he lunged over the plate during his backswing. His fourth-inning drive went 416 feet, well over the left-field fence, for a grand slam and flipped the Tar Heels’ fortunes in a game they had to have.
Wide receiver Josh Downs will continue his football career with the Indianapolis Colts, who took him Friday with the 16th pick of the third round and the 79th overall selection at the NFL Draft in Kansas City, becoming the 10th Carolina player drafted in the last three years. That’s the highest a UNC wide receiver has gone since Greg Little was the 27th second-round pick and 57th overall selection of the Cleveland Browns in 2010. Downs was the ninth ACC player selected.
North Carolina hasn’t replicated its dominant previous two women’s lacrosse seasons. But the young Tar Heels are putting it together at the right time and are a win away from their seventh consecutive ACC title. No. 6-ranked and No. 3-seed UNC scored the first eight goals and rolled to a 15–9 upset of No. 2-ranked and No. 2-seed Syracuse on Friday in the semifinals of the ACC tournament at American Legion Memorial Stadium in Charlotte.
Needing to build momentum to solidify its NCAA tournament resume, North Carolina’s bats instead went silent with runners on base. Two Virginia Tech pitchers held the Tar Heels to a season-low five hits, and the Hokies rolled to a 7–0 victory Friday in the three-game ACC weekend series opener.
Coach Courtney Banghart’s fifth North Carolina team will be her deepest and most talented. That will create plenty of competition for playing time and many more options at her disposal — with the transfer portal still packed with available players.
tarheeltribune.com 