After 'lots of naps', UNC women's basketball comes alive in third quarter to defeat Oklahoma

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Alyssa Ustby was asleep.

To pass the time before a late tipoff on Tuesday at the Jumpman Invitational — due to the preceding men's basketball matchup between Florida and Michigan going into double overtime — the UNC women's basketball senior forward and her teammates took naps.

“A lot of us just hung out with each other, had a good time,” Ustby said. “Took lots of naps, not necessarily because we needed the nap but because we wanted the time to pass by. We’re getting nervous, ‘Okay, I’ll just take another nap.’”

All the naps seemed to pay off early in the third quarter when, with a burst of energy, Ustby grabbed an offensive rebound before finding Paulina Paris open on the perimeter. The sophomore guard's triple gave the Tar Heels their first lead against the Sooners.

From there, UNC never looked back.

Coming out of halftime in North Carolina's eventual 61-52 win over Oklahoma, the Tar Heels ripped off a 12-0 scoring run. After a lackluster first half — UNC turned the ball over 13 times — North Carolina limited Oklahoma to just four points in the third quarter. The Sooners shot a staggering 3.8 percent from beyond the arc on the entire night and UNC captured its first win against a power conference opponent this season.

“It didn’t start well,” head coach Courtney Banghart said. “I’m choosing to ignore that part of it.”

To Banghart's point, the Tar Heels struggled to rebound and cope with the Sooners' fast pace in the opening minutes. Late in the first quarter, redshirt sophomore forward Teonni Key rebounded a missed Sooner free throw but then rushed the outlet pass, turned the ball over and committed a foul that resulted in two Oklahoma points.

Ustby had three turnovers in the second quarter alone, two of which were traveling violations. And on the glass, the Sooners amassed eight offensive rebounds in the first 15 minutes. Just before the under-five timeout in the second quarter, Oklahoma reeled in two offensive rebounds off 3-point attempts and got an easy layup — all in one possession.

Just sloppy.

Despite the mishaps, the game was tied at halftime after a Deja Kelly midrange jumper.

“I think the turning point was reminding each other what our scout is about,” Ustby said. “Just locking into personnel, communicating on offense and defense and getting looks that we want and buying into that."

Sloppiness yielded to toughness and resolve. UNC turned the rebounding category on its head after trailing in the first half. The Tar Heels locked in on defense and held Oklahoma scoreless until the 3:23 mark in the third.

And while Banghart wanted to brush past the first quarter in which the Sooners scored 23 points, she was quite pleased that they only scored 29 points thereafter. Banghart credited that to forcing Oklahoma into low-percentage shots.

“You make guys look really open that are shot-willing so that they might shoot it," Banghart said, "and that’s what they kept doing which was amazing.”

If Tuesday night's third quarter surge was any indication, all the Tar Heels' naps paid off. And after the clock had struck midnight and the final buzzer had sounded on Wednesday morning, Ustby was still wide awake. 

“I think it’s the coolest thing ever that we were playing on two days,” Ustby said. “How cool is that?”

@dthsports | sports@dailytarheel.com