COLUMBUS, Ohio — The No. 6 seed North Carolina women’s basketball team (22-10, 11-7 ACC) defeated No. 11 seed St. John's (23-9, 13-7 Big East), 61-59, in the first round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament at the Schottenstein Center on Saturday evening.
What happened?
UNC drew first blood when junior guard Deja Kelly hit a mid-range jumper in transition. Redshirt senior guard Eva Hodgson then found junior forward Anya Poole for a fastbreak layup, and junior guard Kennedy Todd-Williams scored a putback off a Kelly corner three airball.
The Tar Heels extended their lead to 8-0 off a fading one-legged floater from Kelly. St. John's guard Mimi Reid hit a three for the Red Storm’s first score of the game, but junior forward Ustby answered with a lefty layup and Kelly hit another one-legged mid-range jumper.
St. John's began to find its rhythm as star guard Jayla Everett hit two threes and a jumper. Hodgson hit a three, followed by Ustby and Kelly adding a pair of baskets, but guard Unique Drake closed out the first quarter with a jumper. UNC led 19-15 heading into the second frame.
The Red Storm amped up the physicality in the second quarter and trimmed the deficit to 19-21, but Todd-Williams and Ustby hit back-to-back threes to extend the lead again. A five minute scoring drought for St. John's ended as halftime approached when Reid hit a free throw. UNC led 29-20 at the break.
Hodgson hit a second-chance 3-pointer and Ustby drew a charge on the other end to open up the third quarter. Guard Kadaja Bailey hit an and-one shot over Hodgson to cut the lead to eight points, but Todd-Williams answered with a three. Everett continued her hot shooting with another three and Ustby bullied her way inside for a basket to put UNC up 37-30 midway through the third quarter.
Todd-Williams scored two more baskets, including a fadeaway jumper. The Red Storm kept getting to the charity stripe, hitting five free throws, but Hodgson hit another three to keep them at bay. Ustby picked up her fourth foul before the third quarter was over, forcing head coach Courtney Banghart to make more substitutions.
St. John’s opened up the final quarter with a 5-0 scoring spurt to tie the game at 46-46, causing Banghart to call timeout. Ustby risked fouling out on a fastbreak bucket and St. John’s took its first lead of the game when forward Danielle Patterson hit a corner three.
