No. 14 UNC women's basketball falls, 69-58, to No. 2 UConn in Greensboro

GREENSBORO — The No. 14 North Carolina women’s basketball team (3-1) fell to No. 2 UConn (3-0), 69-58, in First Horizon Coliseum on Friday night. 

Finding themselves down 38-26 at the halftime buzzer, the Tar Heels opened up the second half with strong effort and brought what was a 21-point lead to single digits. 

After winning the opening jump ball, senior center Maria Gakdeng drew first blood with a floater and junior guard Indya Nivar followed with a midrange on the next UNC possession.  

North Carolina started active on the defensive front, causing two turnovers in the first four minutes of play. Nivar — who went 4-4 from the field in the opening frame — cashed the first three for North Carolina, tying the game at nine. However, UNC was making errors of its own, tallying seven turnovers in the first quarter. 

With her second 3-pointer in the first period, UConn’s Paige Bueckers reached double-digit scoring just before the 4-minute mark. The two-time first-team All-American continued to find gaps in UNC’s defensive coverage. 

“What a pleasure it is to continue to see her [Bueckers’] brilliance,” head coach Courtney Banghart said. “She’s a hard matchup, made a lot of contested shots, made a lot of her teammates better.”

Bueckers — who successfully launched a deep 3-pointer at the buzzer — led the Huskies to a 25-14 advantage at the end of the first quarter. 

North Carolina didn’t see its first made field goal of the second frame until almost two minutes in when graduate forward Alyssa Ustby converted on a shot from inside the paint. The Huskies, on the other hand, opened the quarter on a 11-2 run led by a five-point effort from Ice Brady. 

UNC struggled to pull itself together offensively initially. Still, Reniya Kelly was a bright spot for North Carolina late. The sophomore guard contributed a midrange and a 3-pointer in the final four minutes of the frame. 

North Carolina concluded the first half on a 8-0 run, but UConn still held on to a 38-26 cushion behind Bueckers’ 18 points. 

Ustby continued to have difficulty finding the bottom of the mesh, shooting 1-9 and committing four turnovers through the first three quarters. 

Redshirt first-year forward Ciera Toomey, however, hit the nylon with a step back 3-pointer after a steal. With three-and-a-half minutes to go in the frame, Toomey also connected on a tough righty layup through contact. 

North Carolina scored its most points in a quarter so far in the third with 16, but the Huskies continued their efficiency on the offensive end. UConn kept its foot on the gas to stay ahead, 58-42, heading into the final period. 

UNC opened the quarter hot with a 3-pointer by Toomey and a midrange bucket by junior guard Trayanna Crisp midrange. Redshirt first-year Laila Hull, who didn’t enter the game until the second half, converted from outside the perimeter. 

Nivar closed the gap to single digits at 61-52 with a layup. UNC was finding the open shot on the offensive end and stifling the Huskies on defense in a 3-2 zone, holding UConn without a field goal for over four minutes.

“We got in our huddle after the timeout and we said, ‘We trust in each other, we believe in each other,'” Nivar said. “I felt that it showed on the court and it showed in that run that we went on.”

When Jana El Alfy tipped the ball into the bucket for UConn and Bueckers scored a patient layup and then jumper, the Huskies again found a comfortable edge of 15 points with only about a minute-and-a-half remaining. 

At that point, it was keep-a-away for the Huskies — which ended in a 3-pointer by Sarah Strong — and the end for the Tar Heels. UConn topped UNC, 69-58, to extend its winning streak to seven games. 

“We’ll take everything: the good, the bad, the fans, the energy, the opportunity, the heartbreak,” Banghart said.

The Tar Heels will face Ball State next in the Battle 4 Atlantis on November 23 in the Bahamas.

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