No. 14 UNC women's basketball downs Pitt, 75-58, on Sunday afternoon

The No. 14 UNC women’s basketball team (17-3, 5-2) defeated Pittsburgh (9-11, 1-6), 75-58, in the Petersen Events Center on Sunday afternoon, marking North Carolina's best start on the road in conference play since the 2013-14 season.

The Tar Heels started strong, winning the tip-off that resulted in a layup by senior center Maria Gakdeng. Shortly after, North Carolina extended the lead to six after graduate guard Lexi Donarski made a 3-pointer. 

But the Panthers took advantage of UNC’s consecutive missed baskets and turnovers, closing the gap to one with a jumper made by Mikayla Johnson.

The Tar Heels finished the first quarter up 14-9 after a jump shot by first-year guard Lanie Grant in the final second. 

The second began with back-and-forth points by the teams. It wasn’t until about halfway through the quarter that UNC started to pull away again.

A corner three by Grant was followed by another three deep behind the arc, giving North Carolina a comfortable nine point lead. 

A layup by junior guard Indya Nivar was followed by another layup by Gakdeng who didn’t quit and finally downed it after three tries. 

North Carolina ended the first half up 35-22 with sophomore guard Reniya Kelly and first-year center Blanca Thomas contributing four points in the last minute. 

At the half, Gakdeng already had 10 rebounds, while Donarski and Grant had nine and eight points respectively. 

The third started quietly for UNC, with its first points not coming until four minutes into the quarter off a free throw by Gakdeng. During this time, Pitt went on a 5-0 run. 

The Tar Heels seemed to find their groove again, with graduate guard Alyssa Ustby finally putting points on the board with her back-to-back jumpers. 

Nivar came up with a steal and drove in a layup to put UNC up 47-35 at the end of the third. 

Out of the break, Ustby nailed a layup off an offensive rebound. Thirty seconds later, Ustby connected with Nivar for a 3-pointer to give North Carolina a 15 lead. This ignited a run of four triples by the Tar Heels. 

And first-year guard Jordan Zubich and redshirt freshman forward Ciera Toomey added two more 3-pointers later in the fourth. UNC shot 70 percent from the arc in the fourth quarter. 

With the bench on the court for North Carolina, this allowed the Panthers to go on a 13-0 run, but a triple by graduate guard Grace Townsend ended the run and closed the game 75-58. 

The Tar Heels will return to Chapel Hill to take on Wake Forest on Thursday at 7 p.m.

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